Fade to Black
by NYaxemaster
Summary: This is the story of my pred character Yeyin'its-pa. At his most modern he is a ruthless and feared arbitrator that systematically hunts down bad bloods with a cold and brutal efficiency. But long before any of that he was simply one of five brothers...
1. Prologue

**Kil'Raya listened as he purred to her softly "Soon my love soon, our children grow strong in your belly, five beautiful sons you shall give me, but I wonder can you ever comprehend the magnitude of what they will be?" She looked at him puzzled "What do you mean? They will be no more than my sons, and I will love and raise them to be decent and honorable warriors" she said calmly. His voice grew suddenly deep and menacing, almost a growl "Can you EVER know what they are?" he snarled "How can you love the sons of DEATH!"**

**…**

**Kil'Raya woke with a gasp, sitting up suddenly, her sister Ki 'lea woke suddenly too concerned "Are you alright Raya? What's wrong?" she asked concernedly, worried for her pregnant sister.**

** "Nothing Lea, just one of them giving a little kick, that's all" she said rubbing her swollen abdomen gently. **

**"I think tomorrow will be the day" she said. **

**Ki 'lea looked at her sister questioningly "How do you know?" she asked puzzled.**

** "I'm not sure… I just think tomorrow will be the day" she said.**

** "Well let's hope so Raya" Ki 'lea said laying back down "The sooner you give birth, the sooner we'll have some men to help us".**

** Kil'Raya smiled at the joke. And as she laid back down she stared up at the ceiling and thought to how she had gotten to this point in her life.**

**Both she and her sister had been the daughters of a great elder. However he had become involved with inter-clan warfare and sent them both to a faraway outpost to keep them safe, under the watch of two old friends, a male and his permanent mate. They took them in and let them stay in the upstairs room of the gathering hall. **

**It was with great sadness however, that they learned their father had been killed. With their father dead, they were now stuck on the outpost, with no way to move. The stayed, doing odd jobs, working where they could, neither were terribly worthy mates, both being under 8 feet tall, and barely over 7 feet, most males simply ignored them. **

**So Kil'Raya was very surprised one late night, when a particularly tall, dark skinned male approached her one night, in the quiet corner of the communal hall. She had come into her heat cycle recently, and he seemed to be taking a particular interest with her because of it, and yet, he had remained controlled, civil. Even though she sensed his arousal, he was polite at all times. When she took him to her room though, it was a different male who was with her. She purred at the memory of how he had pleased her again and again on that night. It wasn't so much that she had a male to help her relieve her sexual urges, but during the whole time, his presence made her feel happy, and not alone. Not mention he thrilled her, by sending her to near nirvana with every climax, causing her to trill loudly and roar with orgasmic joy. She had fallen asleep happily rutted and in his arms. Strangely though, the next morning he was gone, with not a trace of him. She had racked it up to nothing but a good dream at the time.**

**However her surprise was life changing when later that month her monthly medical check verified she was pregnant, not only pregnant, but pregnant with quintuplets, all males.**

** It was highly unusual for female Yautja to give birth to more than one child at a time. It usually increased the risk of birth defects or genetic problems, even twins, while usually not as bad, were typically undersized, it was why Kil'Raya and Ki 'lea were so small as females.**

** But the medic was even more shocked when he found out that they were not only fine, but likely to be very healthy, healthier than most actually. When asked who the father was, she simply had a hard time telling. She hadn't thought to ask the males name. All she could remember was that he was a tall, dark skinned male, with a deep voice. The medic had joked that she seemed to have spent a night with Cetanu himself. Kil'Raya had laughed at the time, until recently.**

** She had been having strange dreams, filled with visions and the voice of her phantom mate. He had been telling her how he was happy with how she was doing, and glad to see she and her growing children were healthy and fit. More recently the dreams had become stranger, he had been asking her what she would name them, what she wished them to look like, if she hoped they would become successful hunters. She had responded as best as she could. And after this night's dream she was sure she would deliver soon.**

**Not two days later she did. The birthing area was filled with the usual howling of female labor pain, Kil'Raya's screams however were heard well over the rest. Her core twisted and contracted in the continuous agony of her bodies attempt to release the children from her crowded womb. **

**The delivery staff was at a loss as how to ease her pain, the anesthetics they had given her had no effect at all. It seemed she would have to go through the birth naturally, something that killed many yautja mothers. But after more than twenty hours of intense labor, she lay there with five perfectly healthy sons. All of them were untouched by physical deformations, or genetic quirks of any kind, and all desperately hungry for their mother's milk.**

** Strangely enough Ki 'lea was also lactating and gladly offered to help feed her new nephews. All but one fed, the tiny black male, with a small little whitish grey diamond patch in the middle of his chest, he calmly waited for his turn and when he had drank his fill, he gently relinquished his grasp on her breast and simply snuggled close to Kil'Raya and fell asleep. As she let her other sons continue to feed, she gently stroked the head of her tiny sleeping son. Purring gently she calmly said "I'll name you…"**

**"…Yeyin, Yeyin'its-pa"**


	2. Chapter 1

**Kil'Raya's sons however didn't stay small long. It wasn't long until their tiny home soon felt over crowded. That was when the first of what Kil'Raya and Kil 'Lea would call helpful disasters, happened. **

**Their tiny set of rooms was mysteriously burned to the ground. However when they were rebuilt, the entire upper floor was remade for Kil'Raya and her family, now they all had plenty of space, and eventually a room for each of her boys, who seemed to grow by the day. It wasn't long before all could stand and were speaking. **

**Their mother was overjoyed at the prosperity of her family, but was upset that she wouldn't be able to offer them the basics of Yautja education, not a day after she resolved that she would teach them as best she could, the standing elder on the outpost passed away. The replacement deemed that the planet was worthy of colonization and the first order of business, was to prep the planet for more yautja, both young and old, so an educative center was near the top of the list.**

** Kil'Raya was overjoyed to learn that the new elder was an old friend. He promised her boys would be taught. But that was all very long ago. **

**Before she knew it, her sons had all entered adolescence, and soon all began to grow, both taller AND stronger. Kil'Raya and Kil 'Lea soon began to notice that their wrestling matches, and friendly bouts of fighting, soon took on a more serious note, as now sometimes their mock combat could be heard well outside the building.**

** And yet she still held that seeming enigma which was her power over her sons. Despite the fact that they all towered almost a foot over her, and packed enough muscle to tear down the walls around them, Kil'Raya could bring them to their knees without raising a finger and sometimes not even her voice. She knew that this control would become harder to use as they grew still older, and sure enough they soon had discovered the Achilles heel of every male, the desire for a female.**

** But she could offer them no help, only blooded males were allowed such rights, and until they had gathered enough worthy trophies. But although Kil'Raya had requested from her friend the elder, a chance for all of them to undertake the blooding trial. She had met plenty of obstacles in her path this time. The first being the braiding of their hair, all five had it done, she couldn't believe how well they had done it though. **

**All five had simply kept an intense gaze of seeming hatred at whatever had happened to be in front of them. They had all remained silent as the medical personnel, purposefully scarred and burned their heads in order to bind their hair. That night Kil'Raya had asked each of them what had kept them through it all, how had they resisted the pain? While they all tried to explain as best as they could, Yeyin seemed to have the best answer "To prove that we could".**

** While she hadn't known about it, many of the others around them seemed to have labeled her and her sons as some type of unworthy. Much of it had come from other mothers, jealous that their own children were not as healthy or strong, and their feelings had been passed to their children, who had made it their mission to make sure that Yeyin and his brothers felt like outcasts. The brothers soon learned that all they could trust was each other.**

** Kil'Raya's next obstacle was convincing the standing elder that her boys were worthy enough in combat to be able to take on the blooding hunt. However there was no combat training facility, and she was not able to get them to another area in order to train them, so they were stuck, she kept promising that she would find a way to prove their abilities, but so far had come up with nothing.**

**…**

**She came home one day to find two of her sons exchanging blows, angry snarls and roars coming from the middle of a small crowd. "What's wrong Ky' Gall? Embarrassed I caught you yanking your own chain?" she recognized the snarl as that from her lead son Yeyin.**

** As she walked through the crowd, she saw her tall black son holding her other red skinned son in a headlock. Both were sweating and small lines of blood running from their foreheads. Suddenly Ky' Gall buried his elbow in Yeyins midriff, causing him to relinquish his grip and step back. Ky 'Gall stood and landed several blows on Yeyin before bearing him to the ground. "No brother" he snarled "I'm embarrassed because you're making it too easy for me to beat you!" he said raising his fist high.**

**"ENOUGH!"**

**Everything went silent as Kil'Raya shouted above the din of noise. Both froze as she walked forwarded, yanking hard on Ky 'Galls tresses, she pulled him off Yeyin. Not two seconds after she had the hall was empty, all the audience preferring not to watch, as maternal discipline was being dispensed.**

** Pointing to Yeyin she said to Ky' Gall "Help him up" her voice dangerously flat. As he helped his brother to his feet, she grabbed both their heads and brought them together. Both cried in pain as their heads clashed together. "What is wrong with you two?" she cried exasperated.**

** "He barged into my room again, during my private time, when he knows he not sup-""IT DOESN'T MATTER!" Kil'Raya practically roared, cutting off Ky' Gall in mid-sentence. "I try to make you all seem presentable and worthy of going on this hunt, and I catch you doing this?" she looked at one then one and the other, her eyes bright with anger as she waited for an answer. **

**"He…" Ky 'Gall tried tentatively "He embarrassed me mom" he said quietly.**

** "EMBARRASSED YOU?" Kil'Raya screamed barely controlling her rage. "You both embarrass us all with this little stunt! You should both be ashamed!" she yelled.**

** From the back corner Hi'tashi, Rul'wan and Rutaroo snickered loudly. **

**"Don't think I didn't hear that you three!" she yelled "All of you up here, NOW!" she ordered. Soon all five stood in a line, shifting uncomfortably, as they bared the fury of their mothers venting. **

**"Why do you do this to me boys?" she asked looking lost "Why do you keep undermining my attempts to get you where you need to be? You should be focusing this aggression into proving yourselves worthy, not putting on a show for these fools who are only going to hold you back!" she said finally. "Now get back to your rooms, and get ready for dinner" she said.**

**…**

**Yeyin knocked gently on Ky 'Galls door, opening it, he walked slowly inside. Ky 'Gall turned around and fixed him with a glare, "What do you want?" he snarled.**

** "To say that I'm sorry, I've been an ass and I admit, I shouldn't poke fun at you for something like that" he said.**

** Ky 'Gall smiled softly "Forget about it Yeyin, it's in the past now" he said presenting a hand "Truce?". **

**Yeyin grabbed it and shook it "Truce".**

** "I just hate having to admit to doing something like that" As he tried to pull away, Yeyin held tight to his hand, fixing Ky 'Gall with a serious look. "Don't think you're the only one" he said quietly before walking out. It was the truth all five brothers suffered from the same urge, and it didn't help that all the females teased them and showed off their bodies. **

**All of them had no way to fight the urge but to seek relief wherever possible. Yeyin had simply stumbled into Ky 'Galls room and caught him. It had simply snowballed from there. As they all ate dinner they chatted about their day, and ultimately all went to bed happy. While they didn't have the best of everything they had a happy family, and the warmth of that drowned out all the bad.**

**…**

**It was a few days later that they found a chance to prove themselves. A large crowd had gather in the public area. A lot of males mainly in the center was a female, skinny, underfed, and showing the scars of continuous whipping. She was completely naked and was being forced to her back. **

**Yeyin asked what was happening. An older male answered "She's an asegian, she's been charged with striking out at her masters, her punishment has been deemed to be public shame". **

**The five looked up as they heard her scream. A large male had spread her legs and was about to force himself upon, she cried and tried to fight back, only to have him strike her, drawing blood from her face, tears ran down from her eyes.**

** Just as the male was about penetrate her, he was pushed to the ground, and kicked hard in the face. He looked up to see Ky 'Gall standing over him. Sweeping his legs around the older male tripped Ky 'Gall and held him down. Unsheathing his wrist blades his hissed down "BIG mistake boy!" with that he brought his wristblades down towards the young males head.**

**(reviews are appreciated)  
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	3. Chapter 2

Yeyin had been barreling straight at the older male as soon as he heard the wrist blades come free.

The older male was completely blindsided as Yeyin caught him in a full tackle. Both rolled around for a minute, before Yeyin brought his knee to the males face. As the older male fell to the ground losing consciousness, his wrist blades slashed across Yeyins right thigh. He gasped in pain as he saw blood run down his leg, but quickly shook it off.

He suddenly found himself on his knees gasping for breath however, as two males had attacked him simultaneously. One kicking at the back of his knees, the other buried his fist in his belly, winding him. Both were about to lay into him, when Ky'Gall came to his aid.

Distracting one of the males allowed Yeyin to focus on the other, with the odds evened, the two males soon were on the ground groaning pitifully. More entered the fray and soon the two felt they might be overwhelmed, when Rul'wan, Hi'tashi and Rutaroo stepped in.

Suddenly the crowd had turned into a public fighting area, as nearly a ton of male yautjan brothers, fought tooth and claw against a seemingly endless throng of armed males. Each seemed to fight two or more at a time. The poor asegian suddenly found herself surrounded by five enormous males fighting with terrifying fury and strength, yelling and cursing the entire time.

After a few minutes, there was a loud bark and everything stopped, all five looked around and saw the lead elder at the edge of the crowd, everyone within the immediate vicinity took a knee, and looked down at the ground, a sign of respect.

"Any one of you feel smart enough to explain just what the hell is going on here?" he asked

"These five interrupted a public punishment, and struck superior warriors, they should punished for their actions" a voice spoke up. Yeyin recognized it as the male he had knocked out. He choked a growl that formed in his throat.

"You five, stand" the elder ordered.

Yeyin and his brothers stood up. Yeyin winced as he did, taking a quick glance around, he saw his brothers were in a similar state. Ky'Gall had scrapes up and down his arms. Hi'tashi had a nasty gash across his chest. Rutaroo had several gouges in his back, a few rocks actually rested in his skin. And Rul'wan appeared to have been bitten on his shoulder, blood ran down freely.

The elder stepped forward and looked Yeyin up and down closely. He touched the two long gashes on his leg and looked him over before moving onto Ky'Gall. He did the same thing with all of them. After a few minutes he was done.

He walked over to the asegian next and helped her to her feet. Yeyin saw how frail she actually was, her ribs could clearly be seen, and her skin was a sickly color, waxy in appearance, and very unclean, and yet she had muscle under it all, thin and wiry but there all the same, and enough to make her a handful if she was in a fighting mood. But she had clearly seen better days. Yeyin heard the knuckles in his hands crack as he balled them tightly into fists.

"You say these boys deserve punishment, what for exactly?" the elder asked

"Because they are cowards wh-"

"I see no cowards here" the elder spoke cutting him off. "I only see five boys who took on a group of about a hundred armed males. If anything every one of you are the cowards here, attacking unarmed males, defending a weakened female" he spoke out harshly

"She is my servant!" a male stood up, the elder cocked a brow at him and fixed him with a level stare, as with any bully the males will crumbled and he went back to kneeling.

"She's not yours anymore, these boys have won her from you, and she's theirs now" he said as he walked over to Yeyin. "You and brothers come with me, I'm going to have to talk with your mother about this" he said stone faced, as he began to walk away.

…

The whole trek was silent, as they walked home all in single file. Yeyin slumped his head, no doubt they would be moved now, the fight surely was the last straw.

Yeyin turned when he heard someone stumble and fall. The female had tripped and fallen hard. Ky'Gall had picked her up, and now carried her in his arms. She pressed her head to his chest.

As they reached their home, Ki'Lea was outside just relaxing. She went wide eyed when she saw them all. "Yeyin, what happened?" she asked concernedly. "We'll explain when we get inside aunt Lea" he said, his face read clear though, they were in real trouble this time. All of them marched silently into the hall, the small female asegian whimpered quietly in Ky'Gall's arms.

Kil'Raya walked into the room and summed up everything at glance, "What have you done?" she asked quietly.

"We have a female who needs medical attention, I'll tell you what happened" the elder said.

"All of you wait upstairs, I'll talk with you when this is done" she said quietly.

All five marched upstairs and came to their communal area, they called it the cave, due to the dim lighting and furs everywhere. All five settled themselves in comfortably, knowing it may very well be the last time they could.

"Let's take a look at that eye Hi'tashi" Yeyin said limping over. In truth they were all sore and bruised, but Yeyin was genuinely concerned. Hi'tashis one eye was so swollen he had trouble moving his upper tusk. "It's nothing Yeyin, just like your thigh" Hi'tashi said playfully slapping his brothers wounded leg. Yeyin groaned painfully as he sank into a chair.

"Well we're probably fucked after this, no doubt he's telling mom we're all going to have to move" Yeyin sighed

"Well at least we're getting booted out for a good reason. Yeyin I wish you could have seen that assholes eyes when you hit him, it was perfect" Ky'Gall laughed.

"Not as good as yours though when I walked in on you yesterday" Yeyin retorted. All five laughed heartily.

"Feel like saying who you were thinking about?" Rutaroo asked

"Elder Kil'Ra's daughter" Ky'Gall said blushing. "You got to admit she's pretty fine"

"I'd second that" Yeyin agreed

"W-w-wait, you'd take her over that one you always used to hang out with?" Rul'wan asked Yeyin.

"What?" he asked

"You know that one female you talked to when we were all still kids, she kind red in color but with brown spots all over?" Rul'wan said reminding him

"Ohhhhh, yeah I know who you're talking about now, fuck what was her name" Yeyin said leaning back.

"Yeah anyhow she was something, I think I saw her watching you today" Rul'wan said

"Shut up and quit kidding" Yeyin pushed him playfully

"No seriously, that guy who cut open your leg was gunning for her" he said smiling.

All five laughed again, they chatted until it was well after dark. Eventually Kil'Raya stepped in amongst them and asked if Yeyin could step out and talk to her.

"Are we in trouble mom?" he asked nervously

"The fight was what did it, I'm sorry Yeyin, they're taking us away" she said quietly. She buried her head in her sons chest as he slumped against the wall.

(reviews please ^.^ )


	4. Chapter 3

"I'm sorry mom" Yeyin said embracing his mother. They were being forced to leave, and he knew it was his fault, a part of him wanted to die right there.

"I know baby, I'm not sure what we're going to do with all the new space at our new home either" she said quietly.

"Wait… what?" Yeyin asked puzzled, his mother wasn't making any sense. "What new home" he asked looking at her.

Kil'Raya's eyes sparkled, "Our new home at Elder Kil'Ra's dwelling!" she said excitedly. "Oh Yeyin bless you, bless you and brothers, and your thick heads!" she said leaping up and hugging her son around his massive shoulders. "Elder Kil'Ra said you all proved yourselves in the fight, and he's going to take us in and train you and your brothers!" she said breathlessly to excited to remember how to breathe correctly. "Yeyin, you're all going to become hunters!" it was the last words she managed before her sons overjoyed cheering drowned her out, as the others poured into the hall and the good news was exchanged again, they all began to cheer incredibly loud, the whole house seemed to shake with it.

…

Hours later they were all hoarse from yelling with happiness, their night was made even better as Elder Kil'Ra returned with a veritable feast to help them celebrate. That night was one of the most enjoyable they had ever experienced. Over dinner they learned that they would be moving into elder Kil'Ra's home in about a month. Since more was being added on to make room for the seven new guests.

Well after dinner was finished all were still there happily swapping stories, listening to legends and tall tales, and just plain enjoying each other's company. Long after the suns had set, Kil'Ra finally decided to leave. Kil'Raya decided that one of her sons would have to share a room for a few nights, so the asegian could sleep in a bed.

Ky'Gall relinquished his deciding to sleep on the floor in Yeyin's room. As they all settled down for the night and the lights went out Yeyin and Ky'Gall had a whispered conversation.

"So awesome that this is happening huh Ky?" Yeyin said

"It is pretty cool" Ky'Gall agreed

"And what about her? Are you happy she's with us?" Yeyin asked

"who?" Ky'Gall asked

"The asegian, the girl you rescued" Yeyin said

"Oh yeah, well I'm happy she's no longer with her old master" Ky'Gall said

"Do you like her?" Yeyin asked yawning

Ky'Gall took a while to respond but when he finally answered Yeyin was fast asleep.

…

The next morning the boys had awoken early and were busying themselves, doing chores, and cleaning the house their average routine, when they were finished they usually went on long hikes or through town, but since today was a day for celebrating.

So after they had finished Yeyin, Rutaroo, Hi'tashi and Rul'wan all headed to their favorite spot, the hot springs, followed by Ki'Lea. Ky'Gall however stayed behind with Kil'Raya and help tend to the weakened asegian.

As his mother readied a bath for her, Ky'Gall was helping her to eat. He fed her tender cuts of the meat that elder Kil'Ra had brought the night before. She always eyed him suspiciously, when he asked her why she snapped "You're just another male, as soon as I'm better you'll probably just beat me like the last one".

Ky'Gall looked visibly wounded at her words, "I would never lay a hand against you, why do you think I jumped in there and stopped that male from violating you?" he asked her.

She suddenly softened her expression and tone, "You're right, I had forgotten about that, forgive me, I've never known such kindness, all my life I've only really known the is the lash and hard fist of my masters, but you're right, you saved me, thank you" she said, though her face and tone still held some hints of mistrust.

"It was nothing" Ky'Gall said smiling softly "and you're welcome" he said.

After a few minutes Ky'Gall asked "So what's your name?" She paused for a minute before answering "Ta'Lee, my name is Ta'Lee" she said Ky' Gall extended his hand saying "Mine's Ky'Gall, nice to meet you" he said, she stared at his hand then back at him, her eyes narrowed, but eventually she shook his hand slowly.

"Nice to meet you too" she said looking up his arm, before commenting, "those are such strange patterns on your arms, are they tattoos?" she asked curiously.

Ky'Gall looked at where her gaze was; it was true, he had large tribal like patterns up and down both arms, they extended down both shoulders and down his legs as well.

"No" he said answering her question "I was born with these, they've changed as I've grown" he said. "I've never known why I had them, they actually run across most of my body" he added.

"I can only imagine what they look like as a whole" Ta'Lee said, she blushed immediately, when she heard herself and knew what it may sound like she was implying. Ky'Gall just laughed.

"You're very nice Ky'Gall, I'm very happy I'm with you and your family now" she said with something approaching a weak smile.

Just as Ky'Gall was about to reply, Kil'Raya walked into the room and said she had the bath ready. She helped Ta'Lee to her feet. She was still amazingly thin. Ky'Gall felt ashamed of himself for staring at her breasts so much. He couldn't help it for some reason. They were the only area of her body at the moment untouched by any scarring or weight loss, they were still surprisingly full and well rounded. It made her all that much more beautiful to Ky'Gall.

Overall she was actually very attractive, she was a light reddish brown in color, with orange eyes, and brownish tresses, she was tall though, around 8 feet or so, but still raggedly thin.

As they walked into the bathing area, Kil'Raya suddenly said "Oh shoot, I forgot the soaps! Ky'Gall could you help her in? I'll be back in a minute" before she turned and walked out of the doorway.

Ta'Lee suddenly fixed Ky'Gall with a venomous stare, even though he was clearly much more kind than others she had known, she still wasn't going to comfortable around him when she was undressed.

"Turn around!" she snapped, "And don't look back till I say you can!" she ordered.

Ky'Gall sadly was frozen stiff, though he had always dreamed of being in the same room as a naked female, the actual thought of it happening this second scared him half to death.

Before he had the chance to gather his thoughts and ready himself, he heard her say "Ok Ky'Gall I'm ready, could you help me up please?"

Almost instantly he found himself rooted to the spot, frozen again.

"Alright you can do this, just turn around help her up, and walk to the tub" he told himself.

He turned as he zeroed in on her, she was bent slightly her arms covering her chest and her thighs close together, trying to hide as much of herself from him as she could. Shaking his head he walked over to her, focusing on her face. "Are you alright?" he asked concernedly.

"I'm fine, come on and help me up" she said as she put her arm around his shoulder.

They were half way to the tub when she slipped. Spinning she turned and wrapped both arms around his neck, as he put both of his behind her back. When she came steady she was surprised to find her heart race even faster as she looked up at Ky'Gall. She could feel the muscles in his back and arms as he held her, she saw the striations in his chest. She felt the striations too, her breasts gently brushed against the creases in his thick yet smooth hide.

She suddenly felt a warm sensation in her lower body, and a strange want to be closer to him, but he had already helped her up, and was proceeding to ease her into the warm waters of the tub.

She was shocked and surprised with how she felt, a male had never been that close to her without her feeling some sort of pain, but with this one, all she felt was concern and care, no malice or cruelty, still she felt awkward, had she actually just felt attracted to him?

She mumbled out something he translated as "thanks" and smirked when he said "don't mention it, in a similar tone.

As he walked out to meet up with his brothers, she stopped him at the doorway saying "Oh Ky'Gall!" he paused leaning his head back in "Yes?" he asked. She struggled to try and say something meaningful, but all she managed was "Thanks again" he smiled gently as he walked out.

As Ta'Lee sat there in the warm water, she thought about how her fortune had seemed to change for the better, she was with a family that cared for her like one of their own, who fed and bathed her in their attempts to bring her health back. And she thought, she was now surrounded by five huge males who it seemed would defend her if she needed it.

Her thoughts drifted back to the red one with the intricate markings on his arms. She found herself thinking about those muscles she had felt, the soft heavy scent of his body, the pretty shade of blue in those eyes that always looked caringly at her. She began to feel those warm sensations again in her lower body, when Kil'Lea and Kil'Raya walked back in.

((don't hate on the guy he's just a pubescent male, and please reviews! ^.^; ))


	5. Chapter 4

As the week progressed all five became more and more excited as the day approached for them to move to the elders home.

They had spent much of their time between packing and enjoying free time. While Ky'Gall however, seemed to grow friendlier with Ta'Lee.

She had returned to healthier weight, over time, her body becoming more fleshed out as she lost the look of frailty and abuse. She also seemed to being growing fond of her new family, and enjoyed the boys presence, they were always kind around her, and she tried repaying their kindness by helping where she could. She also seemed to be growing close to one in particular.

However on this particular morning, she found herself watching the boys yet again as they wrestled with one another. She enjoyed watching, finding their playfulness and enthusiasm lightening to her own mind.

She also loved just looking at them, none were sore on the eyes.

All five packed vast amounts of muscle and their bodies displayed it well. Yeyin and Ky'Gall undisputedly held the most mass and definition. Rutaroo and Hi'tashi were less bulky and seemed to be thinner, while Rul'wan was a blend between the four.

She never struggled to get a view of them, as all they would ever where would be there loin cloths. She had often caught herself starring at Ky'Gall and wondered if he could be as gentle with her as he was rough on his brothers and frequently felt herself blushing at the thought.

When the day came for them to all make the move, each of the boys had packed all the worldly possessions they had in large bags which they carried behind them. As they waited outside a shuttle appeared and set down in front of them.

A panel opened and elder Kil'Ra walked out and ushered them in. After they were all inside, elder Kil'Ra said "Get ready for a new shot at life"

…..

They were soon arriving at the elders sat on a cliff overlooking the community. As the ship landed on the roof the boys all walked out and enjoyed the view. It was rather beautiful, and a refreshing change from their previous housing.

As they all walked along the boys listened as elder Kil'Ra began explaining where they would be staying. It seemed that they would all be in the top most were given a quick tour of the area, and they were allowed to drop there things off.

As each of the boys explored their rooms, Kil'Raya, Kil'Lea and Ta'Lee were taken to be shown their rooms. Ta'Lee took a quick minute to talk with the boys, they had all figured out that she was around the same age as them, if not a little older, and had begun viewing them like brothers and they saw her equally as a sister.

They all met outside their rooms as she said "So I guess I'll see you later, than" All the guys agreed but stayed and watched as Ky'Gall shared a close moment with Ta'Lee. Yeyin and his other three brothers huddled and whispered to themselves, snickering as Ta'Lee walked away. Yeyin approached his brother saying "Put her there killer" extending his hand. Ky'Gall shook it saying "You know there's always something I wanted to say to you"

"And what's that?" Yeyin asked grinning

"That you're an asshole" Ky'Gall said smirking as he back handed Yeyin across the groin then sprinted down the hall as Yeyin went to his knees.

"Just remember I'll get you back for that!" he called after his brother.

. . . . . . . .

There were several checks and tests each of the boys had to go through before they would deemed ready for hunting, the first week was actually nothing but these tests. They involved distance running, climbing, natural stealth, stalking, and the easiest tests, weight lifting, during days off the boys were allowed to hunt smaller game, and soon each had a bandolier of interesting looking small skulls.

Elder Kil'Ra kept telling them it was to evaluate their strengths and weaknesses. Not surprisingly they all were the best at weight lifting, but they all managed above average in every other test, surprising because of their sheer bulk. However at the end of the week, they were all actually looking even more toned and defined, causing many murmurs amongst the female populace. The boys often teased and flirted in their often and were teased and flirted with in return. Soon however their focus was more directed into their training.

. . . . . . . .

At first they all trained alone, learning the inns and outs of being a singular hunter and taught self-reliance, soon though they were being taught together and began to form a very effective and cohesive unit, more frightening than any of them on there own; still individuals could be seen with more skill than others with certain weapons.

Yeyin and Ky'Gall were surprisingly gifted with their wrist blades and combistick, though were just as good with most every other weapon. Rutaroo found he was best with his wrist blades and most any bladed weapon, he was able to wield them with horrific surgical precision. Hi'tashi found he was an expert with his plasma caster, but even better with a spear gun, a perfect sniper. Rul'wan wasn't really skilled in any particular weapon, he was better than most, but was best with hand to hand tactics and fighting.

Soon they were looking more and more like hunters. Every night they went to their rooms more and more tired, and yet they were still up early every morning, ready for practice.

Ky'Gall and Ta'Lee were also growing much closer, they were not in anything serious, but she had come to trust him, and now felt comfortable around him. She often watched him practice, and he would try to sit with her at lunch breaks whenever he could, much to the jealousy of some others.

. . . . . . . .

Elder Kil'Ra's oldest daughter, which had originally been the source of Ky'Gall's constant affection, had actually enjoyed the fact that the big male constantly looked in her direction when he saw her.

However she was slightly miffed when she saw how her worshipper was now paying more attention to a simple servant, an asegian no less!

She would remind him who the true beauty was.

One day during a day off she caught Ky'Gall in a repair room, working on his armor. She snuck up behind him and ran a finger lightly down the middle of his back. He jumped slightly and turned surprised. When he saw her a puzzled look crossed his face. "Seh'la, what are you doing?" he asked nervously.

"Just looking at an awesome male with a perfect body" she said smiling sweetly "Please forgive me Ky'Gall, I couldn't keep my hands off you" she said purring.

Ky'Gall was actually feeling quite nervous, he didn't know what she wanted from him but it didn't feel right, and he didn't like it.

"What do you want?" he asked backing up slowly.

"Isn't obvious?" she asked laughing "I want you" she said as she leaned into him, crushing her groin into his. "Don't you want me Ky'Gall?" she asked, wrapping her arms around his thick neck and shoulders.

"Seh'la please…" he said backing up another step.

"Shhhhh" she shushed him putting a finger to his mandibles, before pressing hers to his, rubbing his with hers as she slid her tongue out and licked the skin of his tusks.

Ky'Gall said something in alarm, but it was muffled by the forced kiss. He turned and pushed her away, before sprinting down the hall. Seh'la stood in the doorway glaring at him.

"It seems to me" she spoke aloud, "That I'll need to remove my competition to get anywhere" she said as an evil grin spread across her face.

. . . . . . . .

Meanwhile. Yeyin had gotten into a rough scrap and actually had a rather decent sized cut across his back and was being sent to the medic.

As he waited he looked around wondering. He had heard stories about the medic. About how he could be meaner than all hell, how if you pissed him off he would sneak into your room and make off with one of your fingers, or if you really pissed him off, he made away with something else.

While Yeyin doubted that most of these stories were true, he vowed he would make a friend today, not an enemy. A young male asegian stepped into the doorway saying, "You're up".

Yeyin walked in slowly and was guided to a small bed. Told to remove his armor, he did so and waited sitting on the table/bed.

After a few minutes he heard the door open and close and a voice say "So you must be Yeyin".

He was puzzled, the voice was distinctly female, and what's more, it sounded very attractive. Turning around he caught his breath as he saw the yautja in question.

She was a tall female, around eight feet. Her skin was a rich chocolate brown, and her dreads wear similar darker shade of brown, and tied behind her back in the closest thing to a Yautjan ponytail. Her eyes were a beautiful light emerald green. She had a beautiful body, muscle covered her form and she was very toned, but still had a very beautiful figure with plenty of subtle curves. She wore only light armor around her waist and a cloth wrap around her chest as she walked forward. Yeyin fumbled for words eventually settling on "Yes" blushing slightly, not that she could tell.

She approached him with cold, calculating look in her eyes, as they quickly darted from his massive chest and arms, to his defined abs and thick legs. "Holy shit you're a big one" she said irritably.

"Why thank you" he said grinning.

Rolling her eyes the medic said "Oh Paya not another one"

Yeyin grinned "What? I'm just trying to have a little conversation" he said.

Suddenly Yeyin found himself against the wall with her hand in a vice grip across his throat. She glared into his eyes as she growled "Listen lover boy, I take shit every day from stupid morons like you, so I don't need more of it, so just dash any ideas you have of playing grab ass, I can handle myself, and it'd be easy to take you out, so cut the bullshit and we can coexist comfortably, but keep it up and I might just make some of the rumors about me true, understand?" she said with fire in her eyes.

Yeyin had been completely blown away by the sudden outburst of aggression and dominance from the female. He was not in any position to challenge her, he might have been stronger and been able to subdue her but he was still and unblooded and she was a veteran hunter, light scars all around her body attesting to her skills. As she clenched harder on his throat she growled "I SAID do you understand **me**?"

Yeyin looked down as he said "Yes ma'am"

She let him go and paused before saying "By the way, my names Ju'dha-di" she then walked back to a few of the cabinets grabbing some disinfectant patches and a suture needle and thread.

Walking back she had him sit in a swiveling seat and turned him so his back faced her. Applying a long white patch, she rubbed it up the length of the cut, pressing the patch into his back, before slapping it hardily.

**"GODDAMN!"** Yeyin roared in pain as she ripped the patch off. "What the hell was that for?" he snarled.

Ju'dha's expression never changed as she said "One to remind you of your place, and two it's an anesthetic, just relax and the pain will subside" she said as she went about sterilizing the suture needle.

Sure enough, a dull numbing sensation seeped through his cut and he sighed. He felt her put a steadying hand across his back as she went to work, a few minutes went by before any conversation was brought up. Ju'dha was the first to speak. "Good lord, is everything on you made of muscle?" she asked, sounding a little annoyed.

Yeyin answered calmly keeping his tone neutral so as to avoid any possible chance of conflict. "Pretty much, I'm sorry if it's a problem"

"Not at all" Ju'dha said with a light laugh, "I've just never seen a male with so much muscle. Are all your brothers the same way?" she asked.

"Pretty much" Yeyin said

"So all the talk from the girls around here is true, well I'm a little surprised with you boys" she said

"Why's that?" Yeyin asked

"Well surely five males built like you could have any of the females around here, by force if necessary" she smirked.

Yeyin scowled and growled quietly "We're not like that, that's not the right way to do things, no female deserves to be treated like that" he said irritably.

Ju'dha paused for a moment before continuing "That's a very noble thought, I've never heard a male speak like that, I guess you're not as bad as I thought" she said softly, some of the iron missing in her tone.

"You'd be surprised" Yeyin grumbled "Instead of assuming, you should try and get to know us, you'd see we're not all that bad, if anything we just want to be treated like everyone else" he grumbled.

Ju'dha had soon finished his sutures and after a quick wipe down with an alcohol patch she escorted him out of the medical bay, saying "Well I guess you could be the one to change my opinion. Be sure to take care of that cut, and keep it clean, come back here in a few days and I'll see about taking the stitches out. Take care now" she said.

As he walked out she called "You'll have to show me how much you can lift with those big muscles of yours sometime" she said grinning

Yeyin called back "Why not, we'll make a day of it"

As he walked out her last words rung happily in his ears "I'd like that"

(Tough as nails and takes no shit from anyone, I love Ju'dha, also I love it when you post **REVIEWS! **so please do. Thanks! ^.^; )


	6. Chapter 5

Ky'Gall, Rutaroo and Hi'tashi were taking a stroll out on the cliffs, just idly chatting when a piercing cry rang through the air. "HEEELLLLLPPP!"

All three quickly ran to the source of the cry. Ky'Gall was shocked to see Ta'Lee holding on for dear life, beneath her was over a 300 hundred foot drop. Alongside her was Seh'la also hanging on for dear life.

Ky'Gall turned to Hi'tashi "Go get Yeyin!" he ordered

"But…" his brother interrupted

"I SAID GO!" Ky'Gall roared and watched as his brother took off.

He quickly tied a loop around a rock and attached Rutaroo and himself to a line. As they began descending the cliff he looked down to the two "Just hold on we're coming!" he called encouragingly.

"Ky'Gall I'm slipping!" Seh'la called frightened

"Just hold on!" he repeated.

Within a matter of moments Rutaroo had gotten a hold on Seh'la and was waiting for his brother. Pretty soon Ky'Gall also had Ta'Lee and was starting to work his way back up towards the cliffs. Rutaroo and Seh'la made it over the edge first, however he failed to notice the line which Ky'Gall was attached too. The constant movement under the added weight had frayed the line. Suddenly it snapped and Rutaroo dove for it, but was not fast enough as it zipped over the edge.

"HEADS UP!" he bellowed.

Ky'Gall had felt the rope break and immediately held Ta'Lee close as said "Hang on".

Sure enough they slid back down the cliff. As he grabbed onto a ledge, their momentum stopped, but the sudden jolt wrenched her from his grasp. She screamed in shock as he grabbed her hands with his other free arm. However he bellowed in agony as the pull of her hit his shoulder and he felt the joint begin to dislocate.

Tears were in her eyes as she started slipping. She had just started to grow close to him, now it seemed that she would have to die if he was to live or they would both die together.

She quietly sobbed out "I'm sorry Ky'Gall".

The red males face formed a scowl as he said "You're not dead yet!".

Suddenly with a great turn of strength and a roar of pain, he actually lifted her with his one arm and managed to toss her towards the edge, where waiting hands grabbed her. However Ky'Gall's heroic feat left him weak, and felt his own hand slipping.

_At least I saved her _was his final thought as he felt his grip finally leave him.

Suddenly he felt a pair of stronger hands grabbing him onto. Looking up he saw the black skinned and red eyed face of his brother

"You're not dying on me that easy" Yeyin said with a determined grin.

He began hauling his brother up until he had securely in his grasp and tied him to another support line. Within a minute they were both safely back on firm ground.

Ta'Lee immediately ran over to Ky'Gall and hugged him thankfully. She was instantly moved out of the way however, as Ju'dha sat him down.

Yeyin had arrived in force and many of the trainers and even elder Kil'Ra was there. Ta'Lee was distraught that she couldn't be close to her savior. Thankfully Kil'Raya and Kil'Lea were there and managed to restrain her and calm her down.

Yeyin walked over to her and began asking what had happened. He leaned in close as she whispered something and pointed. He looked in the direction she indicated. She was pointing at Seh'la. She was sitting next to Rutaroo, he had wrapped her arm around her and was helping her recover from the shock. She was enjoying the contact and felt safe under his arm.

Yeyin approached her with an angry snarl "You worthless BITCH!" he roared pushing Rutaroo out of the way.

She looked up in horror as Yeyin began venting his fury on her, barely holding back his fists. "I ought to kill you right here! How dare you put her in danger!" he roared.

Ju'dha and Rul'wan began putting their hands on him in an attempt to hold him back, but he quickly shrugged them off. They began asking him what he was talking about and he quickly explained.

"She ambushed her out here and tried pushing her off the cliff!" he said pointing at Ta'Lee. "What's worse!" he continued "Because her selfish, ignorant and moronic actions, Ky'Gall almost died!" Turning he advanced on Seh'la. "Come here you worthless, no good, piece of…"

"**YEYIN!**"

The big male stopped dead in his tracks. Elder Kil'Ra had spoken out and his voice was like that of a god again. Everything stopped as he said his piece.

"Do you not think I am capable of handling my own children?" he asked in a growl.

"But sir…" Yeyin began.

"I understand where you are coming from, but I am her father, and while she may have caused harm to your family, she is mine to discipline" he said sternly.

Yeyin bowed curtly saying "Yes sir"

Kil'Ra turned facing his daughter. She stood and looked down at the ground guiltily.

"Is what's been said true Seh'la?" he asked flatly.

She fidgeted for a second before replying a quiet "yes".

The elder breathed in deeply. "An action like this cannot be taken lightly, and I'm sorry my daughter but you leave me no choice" he said coldly.

She looked up into his eyes frightened. "You are to be exiled until I say you shall return to us, but your banishment will not be for a short term. Now go and get your things, you leave tonight" he said sternly and like that began escorting his daughter back towards their home.

There was a slight pause but Ju'dha broke the silence as she walked back over to Ky'Gall saying "Come big guy let's get a look at those arms"

She looked him over closely, had him stretch and move his arms through the full range of movements. Ky'Gall winced every now and again and every time he did, Ta'Lee could be heard gasping nervously.

After a few more tests Ju'dha reached her conclusion. "Well there's no doubt about it, he's got a slightly torn bicep in his left arm, but other than that he's perfectly fine, shocking really, considering that the amount of stress could've ripped his arm off" she said helping him to his feet.

Yeyin was on the other side and helped supporting his brother as they walked back to the elders dwelling. As they approached a ship was seen taking off and flying away. Ju'dha paused for a moment as she received a message over her helmet. Looking back up she told them that Seh'la had just been taken away.

A few hours later they were all eating happily. Ky'Gall had his right arm in a sling and his left was still terribly stiff but he managed a smile all the same.

It was strange he thought about he had nearly died and yet he hadn't let it affect him. He still laughed with his brothers, he even joked about stranger was how they all how they joked with him about it as well.

_Oh well _he thought _We're all here, she's gone and Ta'Lee's safe. _That was actually another thing that was on Ky'Gall's mind. Ever since they had gotten back that night, he hadn't seen a single sign of her. He thought it was strange considering how nervous she had been when he had looked pained when Ju'dha had examined him. But for now he wouldn't worry, he pushed his plate away happily full.

And as always the boys waited for the elders to finish. Sometimes, like tonight, they would wait with baited breath, hoping for a regaling hunting story. But this night there were only a few short chats and then off to bed. They were happy to receive the news that they would have tomorrow off, and so all five headed to bed with thoughts of sleeping in.

. . . . . . . .

That night however just as most everyone had fallen asleep, Ky'Gall heard a soft knocking on his door. Hitting a few keys on his basic wrist computer, the door opened, and a tall figure walked in.

"I didn't wake you did I?" the figure asked.

Ky'Gall immediately recognized the voice as Ta'Lee's. Sitting up in his bed he answered her "No I was still awake, what's wrong? Do you need some help?" he asked began to slide towards the edge of the bed.

"No, no please, everything's fine" she said quickly walking over to the bed and sitting down on the edge.

He smiled as he saw the familiar image of her face and she smiled gently back. "We missed you at dinner" he said softly.

"I know and I'm sorry" she replied, "I was just thinking a lot, I'm sorry that I didn't come down to see you" she apologized.

"It's fine" he said nonchalantly "As long as you're alright I'm ok".

She smiled at him, but her face soon turned troubled again, and he asked her what was wrong. She looked up her tusks fidgeting slightly, a sign of nervousness in their kind. "I haven't been able to sleep recently, I keep having nightmares, and I keep thinking that if I maybe was close to someone I would feel more comfortable" she said softly.

Ky'Gall looked a little unsure, but waited for her to explain. "Would you… would you mind if I slept here tonight?" she asked in almost a whisper.

"Sure" he replied after a minute "Just let me get set up on the floor an—" he paused as she interrupted him.

"No Ky'Gall I don't think you understand, I'd like to sleep in the bed _**with **_you" she whispered.

He went wide eyed for a second, thinking it over he finally agreed, shifting over to the far side of the bed. After a second she had slid in where he just was and had pulled the covers over herself. Ky'Gall stared at the wall for what felt like forever, just listening to her, her breathing was quiet and almost like that of a soft breeze. After a few minutes he whispered "You're not asleep are you."

There was pause before she whispered back "No, am I keeping you awake?" she asked quietly.

Ky'Gall smiled, she was always considerate for him, and she owed him nothing yet always cared. "No I was just wondering" he said.

He sensed some apprehension in her after another few minutes she spoke again.

"If it's not a problem could you…" she paused "…could you just roll over and…" she paused again almost trembling.

"And what?" he asked.

"…hold me" she said almost mouthing the words.

He paused thinking, she wasn't being seductive or suggesting anything, surely there wouldn't be any harm. He slowly rolled over, his body just a breath away from hers. Shifting slightly he moved a little closer, he could feel the warmth from her body. Slowly he reached out and laid a hand on her arm. She reached up with out with her hand and pulled on his gently until his hand rested across her front. Ky'Gall was suddenly shocked to her weeping softly. He immediately was concerned.

"Ta'Lee what's the matter? Did I do something wrong?" he asked concernedly.

She gasped for a few minutes before saying "no" weakly.

He wasn't convinced, "Then what's wrong?" he asked concernedly.

"I'm just…" she began, "I'm just so confused, and I don't want to do something wrong that I'll regret" she said finally.

Ky'Gall himself was still a little baffled. "What are you confused about?" he asked softly.

"You" she gasped "I'm confused because of how I feel about you. I've never liked any male before, but I feel so safe around you, when I'm with you I don't worry about anything, things feel like they'll be alright, sometimes I dream about you, but at the same time I'm afraid, because I know you're going to become a hunter and move onto other women and forget about me, and while I want to see you succeed, I don't want to lose you." she said almost crying.

Rolling over she buried her head in his neck, curling up as he hugged her with his one good arm. After a few minutes after she had calmed down, he spoke softly to her, "I never knew you thought of me that way, I'm kind of shocked really, because I've felt the same way, but I promise I would never forget you, how can I?" he said stroking her dreadlocks lovingly.

"You were the only one who ever got as close to me as you have" he said purring gently.

Ta'Lee looked up her eyes bright and hopeful "Really?" Ky'Gall grinned broadly, looking into her pretty orange eyes with his deep blue ones "Really".

Both smiled as they brought their muzzles close together, rubbing their tusks together in a gentle Yautjan "kiss". Eventually Ta'Lee fell happily asleep, wrapped up in Ky'Gall's arm and her back snuggled firmly against his chest.

. . . . . . . . .

The next morning Yeyin awoke early and snuck down to the gym and training room. He had decided he'd get a quick work that morning than find Ju'dha if she wasn't too busy and they'd spend a day together. Little did he know she was down there too. Since she had not bathed last night she was down in the communal showers and was walking out planning in getting her work out before bathing again. Her shock was supreme when she walked naked and saw Yeyins back, she had not expected anyone else to be there that morning and so had left her things out in the training room, now they were half way between her and the big male.

(( :sniffs: ah love, so tender it makes you wanna review about it doesn't it? lol ^.^; Are these hints too over the top?))


	7. Chapter 6

Yeyin failed to notice Ju'dha, being too busy prepping his hand wraps and taping them carefully. Feeling

bold, Ju'dha crouched down and, on all fours, began approaching her gear. She'd almost made it when

Yeyin suddenly stood up, looking over his wraps to make sure he had done them right. Ju'dha panicked

and grabbed her things before wildly dashing back to the showers. Unfortunately, she bumped into a

plate tree and there was a loud crash as all the plates fell. Yeyin whipped around, seeing only a figure

round the corner. He slowly began walking forward, his curiosity piqued, and saw the wet footprints

that led straight into the showers. The steam blocked everything in sight, but he still kept hearing things;

small snippets of cursing or hissing.

"Who's there?" he asked. No response. Deciding he'd leave whomever was there in peace, he turned

to leave. Ju'dha, thinking he was along one of the walls, made a mad dash for the exit and accidentally

collided into him, bowling him over .

Both cried out in surprise and fell in a heap on the floor.

...

Elsewhere…

Rutaroo had also gotten up early and was planning on getting in some early exercise before breakfast

and lounging around for the rest of the day. However, as he came into the small Jedhin ring, he ran into

a female already practicing with a training combi-stick. She whirled on him, trying to land a blow, but

he blocked with his wristblades and stepped aside. It was another one of elder Kil'Ra's daughters. She

was tall and well-built with noticeable brown markings that dotted her pale ashen-like skin, which she

was famed for. Very few females had such smooth and supple skin, but that was only complimented by

her gorgeous figure. She had broad hips and nice breasts, but her form was equaled only by her cold,

calculating eyes. They were large, golden yellow, and could pierce like knives.

"Nice to see you, too, N'ritja." he said sarcastically. She brought her mock combi-stick back with a smirk.

"You're Rutaroo, right?" she asked. In truth she knew all the guys; she was often one of the few who

would spar and practice with them. She smirked again as she said, "Well, for now, I'm still gonna stick

with your nickname, Tiger."

She said the last bit with a wicked grin. Rutaroo grumbled; she had given him that nick name just to piss

him off and always called him that, she loved needling him. He growled angrily, "I told you not to call me

that."

She grinned and said with a note of sweetness, "Why? I think you're a cute little tiger."

"I SAID STOP!" he roared.

She laughed, "How about this; you beat me in a sparring session, best two out of three, and I'll stop.

Deal?"

He thought it over quickly before saying, "Deal!"

She grinned as he grabbed the other combistick that was laying against the wall and charged right at

her.

...

It was hard to tell who was more caught off guard, Yeyin or Ju'dha. Her scream of surprise was greeted

by his bark of alarm as he fell flat on his front. Landing in a tangled mass of limbs, both male and female

struggled to free themselves from each other.

"What the pauk is the big deal charging me from behind?" he roared, squirming beneath her.

"Well, it's not like I did it on purpose, you thick muscle-head!" she screamed back at him, trying to get

up. When they had stood up and collected themselves, they went back to arguing with each other.

"So, why the hell did you just run into me?" he barked.

"Because you chased me into the showers and I was trying to bypass you!"

"Why didn't you just tell me you were in here in the first place?"

She faltered, looking at the floor and avoiding his gaze, "I was getting out of the shower when I saw you

and I had left my clothes out here. I didn't want you to see me."

"Why didn't you just walk back into the shower and call me from there? You could've avoided all of

this." he said, almost in disbelief.

"I didn't think of that." she replied quietly.

"Anyway, now that I've found you, I was wondering if you'd like to spend the day together, since I have

today off?" he asked.

Even though Ju'dha was still upset from what had just happened, she perked up at the chance to spend

time with Yeyin, "I'd like that, actually."

They began working out together, and she wouldn't admit it then, but she was secretly drooling over

Yeyin's massive form, watching his muscles strain against his skin as he proceeded to lift the weights

...

Rutaroo stepped aside and countered N'ritja's thrust. He had been simply blocking for the last few

minutes and had been waiting for her to come close again. This time, when she did, he kicked her

combistick out of her hands before delivering a line drive punch straight into her middle. She fell to her

knees, winded from the blow. He flipped behind her and shoved her to the ground pinning her.

"That's round one to me." he growled into her ear.

She hissed before saying, "I was gonna take it easy on you, Tiger, but now you're a dead man!"

Using her superior female strength, she suddenly forced herself up and actually sent him backwards. He

stumbled slightly and regained his footing just in time to see her charging him. He didn't have enough

time to block as she knocked the mock spear from his grip and then began pummeling him under an

unholy reign of blows. Kicks, punches, and knees to the face all met Rutaroo as N'ritja vented her anger

on him. The male would be viewed either as very brave or very stupid. No one had ever tried to best

N'ritja in the ring and those who had tried humbly spoke of their terrible mistake. But Rutaroo knew

nothing of that. All he knew was that he had just received what he was certain was the proverbial ass

kicking many threatened or spoke about.

N'ritja decided to finish off the cocky young male by picking him up off the ground and slamming him

belly down to the matt. She breathed heavily and leaned close to his head to growl, "If you can still hear

me, then do what's best for you and stay down."

Standing with a huff, she began walking to the edge of the ring when suddenly a groan cut through

the air. Turning around, her jaw almost dropped at the sight. Rutaroo was moving his arms until they

came back up towards his head. Pushing himself up, he came to a knee and breathed heavily for a few

seconds before wiping the blood, spit and sweat from his face and maw. Standing, he turned and faced

her and, tilting his head, he cracked his neck before spitting a large glob of bloody saliva to the ground.

"I heard best two out of three. If you walk out of this ring without beating me again, I'll just call you

chickenshit from now on. If you're the female you claim you are, get your ass back over here and FIGHT

ME!" he roared, bringing his fists up and ready.

N'ritja actually held a look of shock on her face; he got back up. He had gotten back up. He had gotten

back up and called out for more, was calling her bluff, and wanted to finish what had been started.

Slightly stunned, N'ritja walked back to the center of the ring, a few paces from him. Her old smirk came

back as she came into her own ready position.

"I'll give you this, Tiger; you've got balls." she jibed. He said nothing, but only furrowed his brow and

snarled. "You gonna make me wait, Tiger?" she asked in that sweet, niggling voice that she knew got

under his skin.

"STOP STALLING AND FIGHT ME, BITCH!" he roared. She scowled and charged, but suddenly noticed

he was sprinting back toward her. She was completely taken aback as he suddenly launched himself at

her. He caught her in a full tackle and she was bent in half as his full weight hit her like a freight train.

The two rolled around on the ground and Rutaroo's momentum was so great that he rolled off of her.

N'ritja stood, wobbly, her head spinning after having her bell rung. She cried out with shock as Rutaroo

suddenly returned and began delivering the un-merciless beating she had bestowed upon him minutes

earlier.

She soon lost track of where his balled fists, hard knuckles, iron knees, and brutal kicks landed, wracking

her with unknown levels of pain. In her attempts to get him to relent she raked him across the face with

her taloned hand, drawing blood. He snarled and paused for a moment, as did she, but she soon met

his full fury. His arms shot out and grabbed her by the head, delivering a horrific head butt that left her

stunned, before finishing it all by bringing his knee up into the side of her head.

She toppled like a cut tree and fell flat on the matt. He rolled her over and she was truly shocked as

Rutaroo grabbed her throat and held one fist high snarling, "YIELD!"

She looked in fright upon him for the first time. His blood stained face looked nightmarish with the evil

scowl that was upon it and his green eyes were bright with anger. She faltered for her voice before

suddenly looking away toward the wall. She was embarrassed to admit that the look he was giving her

actually scared her.

She mumbled something and Rutaroo snarled, "So I can hear you!"

Pausing, she stared at the wall for a few more minutes before looking at him from the corners of her

eyes, speaking quietly, "I yield."

Rutaroo growled suddenly and turned her head so that she faced him. He hissed, "And don't you EVER

forget it!"

He then stood up and walked away. Long after he had gone, she had lingered around the ring, cleaning

up and just returning things to the normal state, all the while though she was busy thinking. She did

not feel anger at Rutaroo for beating her, strange enough since she hated losing, but she was more

concerned with how he had addressed her at the end. He sounded unafraid, bold, and pissed. She

wasn't afraid of him either, though. She was hard pressed to figure out why the image of his dark and

striped form pummeling her was still at the forefront of her thoughts. Could it be that she was somehow

attracted to him?

...

Rutaroo, meanwhile, had walked down to the med wing to clean himself. Unbeknownst to most of his

brothers, he was actually very good at patching up wounds and had helped his mother and aunt many

times when they were attending to the cuts or injuries of his other brothers. He now held a large chunk

of bagged ice to the left side of his maw; it was aching from where N'ritja had planted repeated right

hooks. He was proud that nothing had been broken since a yautja's facial structure was a small miracle

of biological engineering and intricacy. It allowed for a way of physical communication between two of

the species with a broadness and subtly that not even humans could match.

He busied himself by rubbing a cooling paste on the other areas of his bruised and battered body with

his free hand. He would be sore for the next few days, but it was worth it to get her off his back. Rutaroo

huffed silently; out of all of his brothers, why the fuck did she have to single him out? He hadn't done

anything to her or said anything; hell, he'd first met her when he was ordered to spar with her. So why

in Paya's name did she pick at him so much?

A part of him thought it was because maybe she liked him, but didn't want to show it. He scoffed at

the thought before suddenly pausing. That did have some merit, what with the way she belittled him in

public sometimes no one would fancy a guess that she was actually attracted to him. He scoffed again,

but more at the thought that such a worthy and attractive female would want him of all males.

He grumbled quietly to himself, "Well, if the level of negativity is an indicator for how much she likes

me, then judging by this morning, she must want to bed me."

He laughed, but then a voice asked, "What's so funny?"

He whirled around on the spot to come face to face with N'ritja and he fumbled slightly before speaking

with something approaching disdain in his voice, "Nothing. Just thinking of how I had originally wanted

to relax today. Well, so much for that idea."

Surprisingly she didn't hit him with a comeback or insult him. She actually looked a little hurt, "I'm sorry

your day couldn't have started better, but on the upside, I must admit that you're an awesome fighter."

Rutaroo was reasonably suspicious; she had never been this kind to him before and he didn't feel ok

with any of it. He asked, his voice hard and cutting, "Is this some sort of a joke? You going to try and get

back at me somehow?"

"No, I'm trying to apologize for being such a bitch, you thickhead!" she snapped angrily.

"Well, you're doing a piss poor job at it!" he shot back, tensing, readying himself to fight again. N'ritja

huffed suddenly before taking a few deep breaths.

"Look, I'm sorry ok? I picked on you too much and it was wrong. You've beaten me, so I'll stop, ok?" she

asked, her voice a little strained from being unaccustomed to apologizing.

"Fine; now unless you need anything from the med kits, could you please leave? I don't feel entirely

comfortable rubbing warm gels on myself with someone else watching."

N'ritja acknowledged his wishes and stepped out, waiting for him to finish. While she waited, she idly

thought, "Maybe he'd feel better if it was someone else rubbing that gel on him…"

She shook her head suddenly, trying to forget what she just thought.

...

Later that morning, Yeyin and Ju'dha decided they would go and get some breakfast. When they walked

into the dining hall, Yeyin was greeted by Rul'wan who had just woken up and come down to get some

breakfast as well. As the three got settled and began to eat, Ky'Gall and Ta'Lee also walked in and soon

all five were happily eating breakfast together and chatting.

Rul'wan however was slightly on edge. Every few minutes, he'd look over his shoulder before quickly

turning back and with a strained face at some more food. Yeyin and Ky'Gall cued in on their smaller

brother's peculiar behavior, and soon Yeyin asked him what in the hell he was doing.

"It's that female across the hall." he whispered. Jerking his head in the direction he asked, "You guys see

her?"

The other four turned or craned their heads for a glance. Sure enough, a single female was seated by

herself a few tables back. Upon seeing the four gazing at her she bent down and shyly began eating.

Looking back at his blue brother, Yeyin asked, "What about her?"

"I catch her staring at me in the hallways or when I spar alone. Even at dinner, I'll sometimes catch her

out of the corner of my eye. She's freaking me out and I can't figure why she's doing it!" he hissed.

Ju'dha and Ta'Lee looked at each other, their tusks clenched together and quivering slightly in the

yautjan version of biting ones lip to contain laughter, but to no avail. Rul'wan looked indignantly at the

two and barked, "What's so funny?"

Through their gasps, the two managed to get across, "She probably likes you!"

((fights for dominance, surprising humor, what else could make it better? leave a review and let me know))


	8. Chapter 7

While the group was happily eating breakfast, Hi'tashi was elsewhere. He, too, had awoken early and

was busying himself down in the lower levels where the elders home opened into the cliff it was built

atop. He was in the armory and had chosen his favorite spear gun and was cleaning it with a sharp eye,

looking for any little flaws or imperfections. He had taken the gun apart and was inspecting each piece

individually before putting them back together and reassembling the gun.

After grabbing a pack and a helmet as well as a bandolier with some spears, he worked his way down

towards the cliffs. Once outside, he began walking out to the target range, but unbeknownst to him, he

was being followed.

The shooting range was actually a flat section overlooked by one of the open areas of the cliff top, and

was in every sense a gun range. Targets were set up at evenly spaced points with the longest set being

about 1500 yards away. Hi'tashi started lightly with the 500 yard targets; he would often try to get

two or three shots off at once ensuring a kill. A quick reload and he began moving off to more distant

targets. He would take more time with these, ensuring he was steady before touching a round off.

Eventually, he set his sights on the farthest target; a lone silhouette at 1560 yards away. Lying prone, he

rested his sights on the figure, with the slightest movement causing the sights to fly off the target. When

he felt steady he squeezed a shot off, but the telltale puff of the reddish brown dust confirmed his miss.

He cursed silently before trying again; same thing, jerk of the trigger, big puff of dust, and an untouched

target.

Hi'tashi swore repeatedly under his breath; he couldn't get a shot off without twitching the gun. It then

occurred to him that he needed to relax and slow his movements. Taking a deep breath, he let out a

long sigh before returning his eye to the sights. He took an even deeper breath and let out a very long

sigh. Time seemed to slow as he wrapped his finger around the trigger and gently squeezed until the gun

fired.

The spear buried itself solidly in the targets head.

"Nice shot, dead eye." a voice behind him said.

He whirled around, the muzzle if the gun pointed at the speaker. It was yet another female. "Looks

like we all have admirers now." he thought. Out of all the brothers, Hi'tashi was the most observant as

well as the quietest. He didn't address the female who spoke to him at first so she felt it appropriate to

introduce herself, just in case the green male didn't know who she was already.

"I'm Ty'lira. I've been watching you for a while. Care to give me your name?" she asked.

To the observant eye of Hi'tashi, it was easy to see that she was not one the elders daughters, but had

origins somewhere else; she was still awfully pretty though. After a minute he stood to his full height

and spoke, "I'm Hi'tashi. Nice to meet you, Ty'lira."

She smiled, but was secretly awed. The green male had the deepest voice she had ever heard, even

deeper than Yeyin's, and it had an almost rumbling like quality. with that, she decided she'd get to know

him a little better.

...

Meanwhile, back in the dining hall, Rutaroo had joined his brothers and, along with Yeyin's and Kigali's

persuasion, had convinced Rul'wan to go over and talk to his "stalker". The shy female looked a little

surprised as the bull-like blue and green line-striped male approached her. She was a very tall female

herself, reddish in much of her skin with slight purple spots on her shoulders and hands. Rul'wan

suspected the coloration might be elsewhere, but he wasn't considering looking. As he sat down, he

looked over his shoulder at his brothers and the two females who gestured and nodded his way.

Looking back he cleared his throat he said, "Hi."

Likewise, she also said, "Hi."

After an awkward pause he asked, "So… uhm… what's your name?"

He couldn't believe he was actually sweating. She cleared her throat this time before saying in a near

whisper, "Nan'kumi-thwei."

"It's nice to meet you." he said with a nervous smile.

She looked up suddenly and smiled back somewhat shyly. She spoke again, but with more voice this

time, "It's nice to finally talk to you, too."

Rul'wan was a bit shocked. She had an almost musical voice and as his interest peaked, he began to lose

his fear as he continued to talk with her.

Yeyin and Ky'Gall smiled at their brother's progress and, after a fist bump, went back to their breakfast.

Not a minute later, Rul'wan returned with Nan'kumi and rejoined the five. Breakfast was soon finished

and all of them went their separate ways to spend their day off as they wished. Not surprisingly, Rul'wan

stayed with Nan'kumi. After all, she was a very nice and attractive female; he would be crazy not to

spend his time with her. However, he was in for quite a surprise.

...

Back at the cliffs, Hi'tashi and Ty'lira had gotten to be quite friendly with one another as well. He learned

that she was actually the daughter of one of the elder's asegians and was raised to be a huntress.

However, due to her mother's rank, she was often made of fun of and she had become a loaner by

choice. She was also quite surprisingly the head mechanic for the elder's ships and machinery. She had

noticed that the weapons locker in the half of the shop that was the armory was open and that there

were some things missing. It was why she had followed him out.

However, she had become very interested in the male in front of her. Like him, she was also a deep

emerald green, but with black coloring along her outer "points". She seemed very interested in how he

appeared to be as adept with mechanics as she was; he had actually repaired two of the spearguns that

she hadn't been able to get around to, and was, in fact, using one of them.

"So, why are you here and not with your brothers?" she asked.

"I like my off time. Don't get me wrong, I love my brothers, but I like my off time." he replied,

shouldering the gun again and firing three shots downrange, all clean headshots.

Ty'lira laughed, "How do you do that?"

Hi'tashi smiled, "I don't know. I've just always been good at shooting. It's just part of me."

She grinned, "You know, I'm a pretty fair shot myself."

Hi'ta smirked as he offered her the gun and she took it with a playful grin. Sighting at a fairly distant

target, she squeezed off a round that buried itself in the target. She smirked as she reloaded the rifle

and took three more shots. Hi'ta had to whistle as she backed up her claim and, after a few more

challenges, a shooting competition soon began.

Hi'tashi was actually enjoying himself very much. He hadn't ever come upon someone who could shoot

with him before. His brothers were alright, but often got bored after a few minutes. Ty'lira, however,

kept up with him. They had gone prone and Hi'tashi had run out of spears and just instinctively reached

for where Ty'lira had piled them up. However, his hand became pinned as Ty'lira had rolled onto it.

She had been reaching for something on her left hip and rolled to grab it, but had inadvertently pinned

Hitachi's hand beneath her breasts.

Any female's usual reaction to a male hand touching her breasts was one of two obvious choices, and

even Hi'tashi knew he could be looking at a few days in a medical bed if this went wrong. However he

was shocked as Ty'lira smirked and purred gently. Leaning close, she whispered, "You've got some nice,

big hands. I like that."

Needless to say, Hi'tashi was a little confused and surprised, but as Ty'lira gave him the spears and got

what she wanted, he put his curiosity to the back of his mind and they picked up their competition.

...

Rul'wan had the breath blasted from his lung for what felt like the hundredth time as Nan'kumi threw

him to the matt. He couldn't believe it was the same shy and quiet female he had met earlier. While she

may seem to be quiet and peaceful, she was a monstrous fighter! Her light frame made her ungodly fast

while her superior size gave her the strength to beat him again and again. Her tenacity was as ferocious

as it was admirable and, while she might seem like a pushover because of her tone, she was more than

capable of kicking any male's ass. She always seemed to lay Rul'wan out with a smile, though.

"Gods on high, you may talk polite Nan'kumi, but you fight like a demon." he panted as he stood and

readied himself again. Two punches and kick later and he was on his back again.

"And you're definitely resilient, Rul'wan." she replied sweetly. She just continued to marvel at him as he

received beating after beating only to get back up. Of course, she was now getting the edge due to his

stamina failing.

"Perhaps I should take a break for now." he suggested, still lying on his back with his chest heaving. "Do

you mind?"

She smiled as she said, "I'm good for now. You just relax."

She stood to go get some water and a wet cloth, then sat next to him and offered the water, which

he drank thankfully before she mopped his brow free of sweat. He had to smile at his latest fortune;

Nan'kumi truly was a good friend.

She, herself, felt lucky as well. She had admired the blue male from afar and had fancied him above the

others; he was easily the most physically active of the five. Whenever he wasn't working out, running,

or lifting weights, he was sparring, training with weapons, or just plain moving around. To the casual-

minded female, he would definitely make a worthy sire, but Nan'kumi had her own reasons as well. She

had liked how the males were polite and kind; most of the females saw it as strange, possibly even a

weakness, but she liked their demeanor.

She was always told she would make some male a nice mother and bear many children; a fate she didn't

want. She wanted to have her own future and her own fate. Rul'wan seemed like the kind of male that

might support her hopes, but why Rul'wan out of the other five? Simple, she liked the color blue.

Rul'wan had to admit, he liked how she looked, too. She had tied her long dreads in large bunches, was

very pretty to look at, and though she did have some scales on her back, Rul'wan liked how they looked.

Even more attractive to him, she could fight and wrestle! He always loved to rough house and was

almost always the one who started the playful wrestling bouts between him and his brothers. The fact

that he had found a female who could keep up with him in his favorite activities, made him glad that his

brothers made him introduce himself to her.

After a few more minutes, he stood again and asked, "Ready to go again?"

She grinned playfully, "You like having me kick your butt don't you?"

He only grinned as he charged in again.

...

Meanwhile, Rutaroo had worked his way back to the weight and exercise room with Yeyin and Ju'dha.

He was focusing on the upper levels which consisted of metal and composite bars, ropes, rope nets, and

rock climbing like surfaces. The bars stuck out at all different angles and had rough and coarse surfaces.

It was meant to resemble the upper areas of trees, along with vines and heavy mosses. Like Hi'tashi,

Rutaroo was of a slightly more lithe build than Yeyin or Ky'Gall, and so was more adept at traversing

through the tree tops.

Yeyin and Ju'dha would watch him between breaks in lift sets. He was certainly easy to watch. His

naturally impressive movements were almost mesmerizing, but it wasn't just them watching. N'ritja had

returned and was also watching him from the back of the room. After a while, she decided to climb up

there and join him. She scaled the walls up to the area rather quickly, impressive since it was more than

five stories up in the air.

As she began following behind him, he began speeding up and was soon a blur as he jumped and swung

across the practice area. She soon lost sight of him and kept moving forward until an arm suddenly

seized her and pulled her aside onto the resting platform.

"What the hell do you want!" Rutaroo snarled as he saw it was her.

She was shocked by his anger and looked away, "I just wanted to talk."

He shoved her roughly back against the wall and growled, "So talk."

He crouched, looking down at the weight benches and she joined him, looking at him eye to eye, "Why

are you so angry at me?"

He suddenly looked up at her, his eyes narrowed as if he was looking for something in her face before

looking down again and grumbling, "You think I'm just angry at you? Please; your hardly the worst thing

I've had to deal with in my lifetime."

"What do you mean?" she asked curiously.

"You don't know what I've had to go through with my brothers, you were born into high rank. You

know what I was born into? Nothing." he said the word with hate riddling his voice. "We had to earn

everything; all that all the regular hunters just gets as they grow up." he continued in a low voice. She

looked a little taken aback at that, "A warm home, a nice bed, even a decent meal was a miracle at

times. You probably had your first small hunt for fun. I had mine so I could help feed my family."

"That's horrible!" N'ritja said, shocked.

"That's life." he said with a sarcastic laugh.

"They should have given you help! They should have…" she trailed off.

"What? Help a single female who whorishly gave herself up to a better male and selfishly wouldn't tell

the other females so that her children would be the strongest?" he hissed. She looked shocked as he

added, "I heard that every day when I went to be educated, and then had to go home, sometimes to a

shared bed and an empty stomach. This is mine and my brothers' only chance at something better, so

forgive me for being somewhat angry."

She put her arm around him and said, "Well, I believe in you, Tiger."

He looked at her with a gentle smile and said, "For being such a bitch, you are really pretty."

...

Outside, the weather had taken a turn for the worst and a powerful thunderstorm rolled in with driving

rain. Hi'tashi and Ty'lira were loath to let anything interrupt their competition, but as the thunder and

lightning started to become more and more frequent, they decided it would be unwise to stay much

longer and both made a mad dash through the rocky outcrops. Despite their speed, however, they still

both got soaked.

As they stepped back into the armory, Ty'lira growled irritably since most yautja hated being wet or

getting caught in the rain. She grabbed a cloth and began to dry off as Hi'tashi shook his head and his

dreads flapped wildly as the water was flung from them. Ty'lira smirked as she watched, saying, "Don't

seem to mind, do you?"

He laughed as he went to put the gun back in the armory locker and said, "No, I don't. I actually like

the water, but I don't know if that makes me weird or not." He actually spent a good portion of time

disassembling, drying the parts of and reassembling it, after he was done he was fairly well covered in

grease and black soot. He grumbled and moaned, "Great! This stuff always takes weeks to get off!"

Ty'lira smiled, "Come on and follow me. I think I have something that'll help you."

Hi'tashi looked confused but followed nonetheless. She led him through the hangars and past many of

the ships. Hi'tashi silently gawked. The elder had himself a small fleet of at least a dozen man'd-ca group

hunt crafts, maybe thirty different two hunter shuttles, and an old mother ship which was now scattered

in disassembled pieces.

Eventually, she led him to a smaller man'd-ca which was hooked up to several large tubes and wires that

fed it power, water, and heat. Hitting a few keys, the loading hissed and came down. Looking to Hi'tashi,

she said, "Come on in. I think I have a few things that'll help take some of that grease off."

He looked a little taken aback, but followed all the same. The ship was clearly one that was not

furnished with luxury, only basic and simple things, wood and stone chairs, plain metal tools and cook

ware, and lots of furs and spare weapons. She spoke over her shoulder, "I know it doesn't look like

much, but it's my home."

"It looks nice to me…" he said quietly.

Eventually, she lead him to her room and into the shower area. She handed him unlabeled bottles of gel

and said, "Use one before the other and the grease should come right off."

She turned the shower on and Hi'tashi hopped right in, letting the water warm up and relax him as he

watched through the clouded glass as Ty'lira took her top off and unwound her hair. Looking back at the

wall he said aloud, "I can't thank you enough. This means a lot."

Ty'lira had been running her hands through her dreads, working out the kinks when she heard him

speak. She couldn't suppress a small shiver as he spoke. There was something about his voice that just

made her skin tingle; the deep rumbling tone, like thunder across an open prairie. It made her feel

like she was in the presence of someone greater. However, since she had not responded, he spoke

again, "You still there?"

"Yeah, it's no problem, Hi'tashi." she said as she hugged herself when she felt her skin tingle again. She

couldn't help but feel drawn to the deep voiced male; he liked the things she did, was friendly, and

certainly wasn't sore on the eyes. For the first time in a while, she let herself imagine a little fantasy.

"You know, Ty'lira, I hope you don't mind, but, uhh… I kinda like you." he said from shower. She smiled

excitedly before looking in mirror, as if seeing her own reflection might prove or disprove what just

happened.

She fumbled for her voice for a moment before saying, "I like you, too…"

...

Eventually the day came to an end with each of the brothers and their respective females sitting around

the large central bonfire in the elder's rock basement. There were furs everywhere and a large plains

beast roasting over the fire. Each of the brothers happily conversed with their favored female who were

in chairs opposite them, with the exception of Ta'Lee, who was sitting on Ky'Gall's lap, happily holding

him.

At the edge of the room, Kil'Raya and Kil'Lea watched. Kil'Raya had tears in her eyes, "My boys are

growing up."

She sniffed as she looked at her five sons, each with their potential mates. She felt a hand on her

shoulder and put hers over it, thinking it was Kil'Lea. However, she saw a male's hand and, more over, it

was large and black with very long talons. Turning, she saw him and everything else froze as he spoke to

her, his voice like a thousand different growls and snarls blended together, "My dear, they are growing

up and soon they will be the hunters you wished for, but this is barely the beginning of the first chapter

in my sons' lives. Keep them strong and safe and I will see you again."

Then, everything suddenly turned back to normal.

After a while, Elder Kil'Ra walked into the room and asked, "So, boys, how was your day off? Feel

relaxed?"

((so each mans got a girl, Rutaroo shows just why they're there, Cetanu makes a little surprise appearance, but this is nothing compared what I've got in store for you guys in the next chapter. Please leave me a review of what you think thus far, I would like five at least)


	9. Chapter 8

That was the last true "day off" that the boys had. After that, the days only got longer and harder as practices sometimes continued into the night and early morning. They were only allowed enough food and rest to keep them going, but soon the stress from minimal sleep and constant hunger taught them the things they needed to know. They learned how to trade off their tasks; three slept while two watched, then two slept while three watched. Attacks and sparring hits became more precise, and fights were shorter yet more brutal. Ultimately, they learned that their greatest individual weapons were their minds and, collectively, each other.

The five males as a team were a frightening image. No longer just rough and rowdy brawlers, they were now honed and refined fighters, using their wits and skill as much as their size. Elder Kil'Ra was forcing them outside more and more often, sometimes for days at a time, and never in the same place twice. At first they were a little unsure of how to respond and so quite a few nights were spent in restless discomfort, but they began to learn again; how to adapt to the environment and what tools and weapons were best suited for the area.

They figured out to scout first for the best places for shelter and water, how to build a natural fire (a skill many yautja were losing), how to hunt with the basics, and again their greatest aid was each other. Ten eyes were better than two and five brains were infinitely better than just your own.

The elder and his assistants would drop in randomly and check on them, sometimes posing as aid, sometimes as enemies, but often times they preferred to be helpful.

As the summer months began to kick in and the days got hotter the training got more intense. Group sparring sessions would sometimes last for hours at a time, all five defending twice their weight in numbers, often they would begin to lag after periods and tried to learn how to pace themselves. Stamina training was truly their hardest lesson.

But even then they succeeded and after every day were long nights of deep and much needed sleep. On the rare occasion that they had free, much time was spent with their respective females. Each male was given tips and tricks, as well as praise, and sometimes a quick hug or kiss when needed before they went back into the fray.

The training continued to increase in aggression and intensity and seemed to not stop until one day when Elder Kil'Ra nearly got beaten to a pulp by Kil'Raya for what had happened. Yeyin had been saying he needed a break for over an hour, but wasn't given one and had to continue to fight. He began behaving strangely though, his steps uncoordinated, and his speech slurred. Ultimately he collapsed to the ground and couldn't be roused.

He had nearly died from heat stroke and spent four days recuperating in the med wing. Kil'Raya and Kil'Lea had to stop themselves from actually assaulting elder Kil'Ra. Regardless of his rank, age, and status, Yeyin was Kil'Raya's son and close enough to Kil'Lea to be considered hers, too, and honor be damned if one of their boys was in danger.

The whole time the two females were busy hounding the elder, Ju'dha had remained by Yeyin's side during much of his recuperation, playfully insulting him whenever she could. As she switched out his I.V. for what Yeyin felt was about the hundredth time, he said, "You know you don't have to do this. You can go elsewhere. I'll be fine."

She smirked, "Nonsense. Now just shut up and stay still, meat head. I'm helping you."

Yeyin had to smile. He felt blessed knowing that a female like Ju'dha cared for him like she did. Even if it was just friendly, he was ok with it. He wondered idly if Ju'dha WAS just being friendly or if she felt something for him. He hadn't really courted her or tried to impress her, he'd just been friendly and kind. He wasn't completely blind though, he still thought she was jaw-droppingly gorgeous, he had just learned to look past her image and see her as another yautja.

As she walked past his bed once more he grabbed at her arm. Even in his weakened state his grip was almost too strong and she flinched before relaxing. She was reminded again of his true size as she saw how big his hand was.

"Thank you, Ju'dha. It means a lot to have you stay close when you could be elsewhere." he said softly.

She smiled a little before suddenly feeling a strange fluttering in her stomach. She fumbled for words before saying, "Well, I can't just let you pass by. You're the first good male I've ever run into. Do you think I'd just let you pass, Yeyin?"

Her voice was gentle and soothing, yet it somehow excited the big male. She had never used his name like that before. Almost scared, he asked, "Do you mean that you feel… well… have feelings… for me?"

She leaned in close, gently running a hand across his face and, fighting for words, was about to say something when she just leaned forward and gently pressed her tusks to his. She closed her eyes and purred heavily, only to feel his hand gently come to the back of her head and run through her dreads as he purred as well. It was a powerful, rumbling bass note that almost made Ju'dha quiver, but suddenly she heard someone coming and pulled away, "Yes, I'll tell you later, Yeyin."

As the elders walked in, Ju'dha became her regular self and gave a curt, clean, almost robotic diagnosis and explained that Yeyin would be good to go in the morning, just in time for their big, week-long, outdoor survival hunt. They were all being tested, and were allowed to bring one weapon or tool, but each had the intention of sneaking a little something extra too. The boys had all learned that honor took a back seat to staying alive when it really mattered.

Yeyin never saw Ju'dha after that. When he checked out, he immediately began to prep himself for the big hunt/survival test. Twenty-four hours later, he was out walking with his brothers across miles of open scrub and barren rock desert. They had been walking since sunrise to where they would be forced to make do for the week. Now, with the sun cresting the mountains in the distance, the guide finally turned to head back and said, "This is it. Survive how you can and we'll be back in a week to look for you. Good luck."

Just like that, he began to leave and all five watched until he was nothing more than a small dot on the horizon. Ky'Gall turned to face the group, "Alright, what do we have in the way of useful items?"

All five began to fish around and produce items they had stashed, hidden, or dismantled to carry. All five had snuck at least one small knife, Yeyin had an axe head (sharpened but missing the handle for obvious reasons), and Rutaroo had a good fifty feet of thin, but strong, wire. Hi'tashi had managed to find a decent-sized glass lens, Rul'wan had signal mirror, and Ky'Gall had the biggest score; a small data disk which projected a topographical map of the area and most of planet. After establishing where they were, they looked for the closest water source which happened to be a mid-sized river and began heading towards it.

By afternoon, they had reached the spot and were glad to find much of the banks lush with plants and small trees, but by that time, the five were more concerned with quenching their thirst. Afterwards, it was decided to set up their camp nearby and it was Hi'tashi who discovered the site that they chose. It was around a large tree about a dozen yards from the river and had large shrubs and brush that surrounded the back and made already natural shelters.

After some mixed discussion, it was decided that a subterranean shelter would be best for the area, since all five were still full from a large breakfast and snacking throughout the previous night they felt they had the energy to devote to constructing one. What armor they wore was used to create primitive shovels and soon they were digging in shifts, though it was Ky'Gall and

Yeyin doing most of the work since they were the biggest of the five. When they weren't digging, they were off searching for the other things they would need like long wood poles, rocks, bark slabs, or pine boughs. By dusk, a half-decent shelter had been built and almost all five had brought back some manner of small fish or lizard to cook over the fire.

This was as primitive to them as it could be for any human. The yautja were a proud race that boasted the prowess of a strong hunter who used the most sophisticated technologies in sometimes the most primitive and basic ways, but to appreciate the gift of that technology, one must first see what it is like without it.

They were also doing something rarely practiced amongst other yautja. Many were simply trained to hunt for trophies and defend their honor for mating rights, but the boys were all learning how to survive. They hunted for food as well as trophies and learned to use every part of the kill that they could. Nothing was wasted; a rare concept amongst a race that had mastered interstellar travel and energy weaponry.

The next two days went by in much the same way; morning would be greeted by mixed groans and other noises as the first to wake roused the others, usually five different secluded spots were chosen, and after a moment or two various sighs were heard. After simple chores, like building the fire back up and gathering water, work began anew on the shelter with some hunting mixed in until by the second night the shelter was finished. However, the calorie expenditure had them wanting more than just lizards and fish for dinner, with a combined weight of around nearly 1800 pounds, they needed more sustenance and nothing sounded tastier and more rewarding at the moment then a chance at some red meat.

. . . . .

The large beast moved cautiously towards the pond. Others of its kind had gathered as well to drink the cooling water. At the other end of the pond, the large goanna-like lizards wallowed in the mud to keep cool. As the large bull lowered its head to drink the water, it watched them carefully. The large males could grow up to 25 feet long and had a nasty bite that would cause infections in those who were bitten, but these were adolescents, just cooling themselves off in the mud. The adults were usually solitary and lived deeper in the canyons. As the large Mantral buffalo drank, he was unaware that there were other, more cunning predators watching him.

...

Yeyin told himself to wait for what felt like the hundredth time that day. He had seen the large buffalo earlier and had set up with his brothers to ambush it when it came back. Most of the day had passed by and now, at dusk when the large elephant-sized beast returned, they all slowly began to converge on it. They couldn't afford to screw up; the bull could easily kill one of them and they needed the meat unless they wanted to wait hungrily for an entire week.

A twigged snapped and the bull was instantly alert. Yeyin decided that it was now or never and charged the bull. Not surprisingly, it charged back and just when they were feet away, Yeyin rolled to the right and stood as the bull paused and tried to determine the location of its attacker. Yeyin was sprinting back and was a hair's-breadth from spearing the bull's weak spot when it turned and rammed him full on in the chest with its head.

The large black male flew backwards as his other brothers began to converge on the buffalo. One would taunt the large bull as the others tried to advance close enough to deal a killing blow. Eventually, it was Yeyin who came back and buried his spear in the kill spot just behind its shoulder. The bull wheeled on him again, but he was already out range. It was a game of waiting and only two minutes later, the bull finally succumbed to his wounds and fell to his side.

It was a successful hunt, but at a cost. Yeyin was having trouble breathing and after Rutaroo examined him it was clear why. The bull had broken almost all of his ribs, he wouldn't be allowed to move for a while until the small hairlines healed up, but their gamble had paid off and they now had over a 3 weeks' supply of meat and plenty of options for new tools. They hauled away the carcass in portions and managed to put most of it in the branches of the trees to keep scavengers away. As Yeyin was patched up as best as they could get him they set about working on a good meal.

Yeyin, however, wouldn't let himself stay down and helped where he could; getting firewood, butchering meat sections, sharpening knives, anything. That night, they all managed to smile happily as they ate their fill of the rich, red meat and clean water, and they even had the bonus of Rul'wan discovering the tree they were beneath was bearing fruit! A sweet yet tangy blue fleshed piece which was like a mango-orange cross. So with bellies full and spirits brightened they went to sleep happily, but the morning would be less than pleasant…

The gentle plopping sounds of rain were actually very soothing to the ears of the five brothers, that is until they realized what was up in the tree.

"COVER THE MEAT!" Hi'tashi roared as he stood with the realization. There was a mad scramble as all but Yeyin climbed up the tall tree and began throwing the skinned portions of the buffalo hide over the exposed sections of meat. The fur naturally repelled the water and after making sure each was secure, all four descended to take stock of the weather.

It was clear that it was going to be an all-day storm and there was little to do for the day. However, when the four came back down, they were surprised to see Yeyin was gone! All searched feverishly for him and suddenly it became clear that something had come in and taken him while they were scrambling to cover their food supply. It was now apparent that this had become as real a survival mission as it could be.

. . . . . . .

Yeyin had been completely taken by surprise. Whatever it was, had clubbed him over the head before dragging his body away. He came in and out of blurred vision as things moved past him. When he finally woke again, he was partially buried by dirt, rocks and debris. His chest still ached as he pushed it all off of him and he sat up slowly before groaning in pain. He held his head as it throbbed and ached, whatever had hit him had serious strength to put him out with one hit. Standing slowly he let his vision adjust; it was night now and everything took a little longer to come into focus, but when it did it wasn't a comforting sight.

Bones were everywhere; some were whole bodies, some were animals and some, scarily enough, were yautja. He stepped back a bit in shock and heard the sickening crunch of bones breaking under his feet.

He was in a huge cave system and the sickly sweet scent of death hung all about him. A sudden, loud, echoing growl sounded from the depths of the cave, and the sounds of rocks and gravel being moved as whatever brought him here started to wake and move about. He suddenly realized the overwhelming danger and began to look for a place to hide.

As the sounds of the beast grew closer, Yeyin frantically searched for a hiding spot. He suddenly stumbled and found a large crevice in the wall, and upon seeing the shadow of his possible death, promptly began forcing himself into it as much as he could then watched in opened mouth awe as the beast passed by him.

The giant head passed by first, iridescent, glittering opal like eyes dominated its head. Large murderous teeth hung below the jaw. The body was long and sinuous, serpentine and covered in silvery, mirror like scales which reflected its environment and made it seem to almost disappear from sight. The long, whip-like tail ended with thick, heavy scales. Even after it had passed, Yeyin waited until the sounds of the dragon died down and then waited twice as long before he dared move. When he finally came out from the rock crevice, he took a moment to catch his breath and still his heart.

As he began to work his way towards the mouth of the cave he slipped and looked down to see the item which he had stumbled on. It was a forged metal shaft to a spear, the head was a simple, willow leaf like point, with sharp edges on each side. Gods only knew how long it had lain there, the horrors it had seen, but as of now it was Yeyins weapon and one that would go down into the legend that would become his life story.

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	10. Chapter 9

Elder Kil'Ra continued to pace around as he frantically thought of how to tell Kil'Raya and Kil'Lea that the five were missing. His scouts had only reported the information this morning and he had since been worriedly thinking of how to explain the news. Fate is not always kind, however, and he froze at the sound of his old friend's daughter's voice behind him. "Was there something you needed to tell me?" Kil'Raya asked.

Paya on high how he dreaded having to look her in the eyes.

. . . . . . .

Ky'gall scanned the horizon again with his eyes. They had been traveling all night and most of the morning looking for tracks, however, Ky'gall, himself, was feeling the stress already. He was always a decent leader, but always had Yeyin to rely on for back up or reinforcement; now he didn't have such a luxury. He stared across the vast dunes and sands of the desert in front of him. The sun was already beating down on them all and he knew what the rest were thinking.

"We should wait here until sunset." Hi'tashi spoke from behind him.

"If we wait here, then that's a whole day Yeyin has without a chance." Ky'gall growled angrily, balling his fists so tight his claws threatened to pierce his palms.

"Yes, and if we go, the chance will be the same as if we don't. If we go across now, we'll be dehydrated before the days even half way through. We don't know how big this desert even is." Hi'tashi answered in his stern, deep voice.

Ky'gall was torn, every fiber in his body screamed at him to move with all haste and save his brother regardless of the cost to himself. Hi'tashi felt the very same way but being the most detached from the group gave him the wide view much of the time. He gently placed his big green hand on the strained shoulder of his vermillion brother, who as if by the very action of contact, slumped his shoulders.

Ky'gall sighed, "We move at dusk, then. We can't afford to lose any more time; gods only know how badly he needs our help."

. . . . . . . .

Yeyin stepped out of the cave and into the sunlight and immediately regretted his actions. His eyes visibly watered at the sudden change in lighting and he had to cover them. After a moment, he began to scan his surroundings and was open mouthed at the huge expanse of sand in front of him. It was like an ocean; as far as the eye could see with no visible end in sight. The heat from sun rippled the air and he turned to see where he had just come from.

It was an immense rock colossus. Windblown sands had formed a conical mound around a base which soared upwards hundreds of feet. The mouth of the cave was actually situated right where the top of the sand mound pile was. He gawked before hearing the distant roar of the dragon which had taken him. He remembered suddenly how careful he was going to have to be during his time here. Gripping his spear a little tighter, he began to walk around the rock formation looking for anything that might be able to offer him shelter, weapons, or food and water. However, as he slipped and fell forward he couldn't help but think it wasn't a good sign.

. . . . . . . .

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN MY BOYS HAVE GONE MISSING?" Kil'Raya half shrieked, half roared at the elder.

"Our scouts have simply stated that they're no longer within the immediate area of the testing grounds." Elder Kil'Ra offered feebly.

"Is that supposed to COMFORT ME!" she shrieked again, taking another half-step toward him.

The elder was about to respond when a call crackled over the radio.

'**Request for voice call.'**

"Granted."

'**Bad news, sir. It seems at least one of the five are in deeper trouble than we thought.'**

Kil'Raya visibly blanched at the information.

"What exactly do you mean?" Elder Kil'ra asked, confused.

'**Sir, preliminary reports show that at least one was taken by a mirror dragon.'**

There was an audible crash as Kil'Raya fainted clean away.

. . . . . . .

"A mirror what?" Ky'gall asked as he turned back around.

"Dragon, a mirror dragon. I'm positive that's what took Yeyin." Rutaroo said again.

"The fuck is that?" Rul'wan asked confused, "I thought those damn things were a myth."

"I did too, but it turns out they're actually real." Rutaroo explained.

"Wow, no shit." Hi'tashi said indignantly.

"Look, I'm dead serious here, damnit!" Rutaroo roared back.

A couple moments of quiet tension passed as the two stared each other down. Eventually, Ky'gall broke the silence asking, "So, what exactly can you tell us about this thing Root?"

"Not much. There are so many legends about these things, it's hard to tell where legend ends and detail starts. Basically, the name kind of gives you the main detail; it's covered in highly reflective scales. After that, there's a bunch of shit they say it can do with them."

The other three looked at each other, then back to Rutaroo before Hi'tashi spoke, "Like what for instance?"

"That it can fire them off its body at you, reflect the sun's rays so intensely you'll burst into flame, all sorts of shit like that."

"Wonderful; and here we all are, armed with a couple of steel plates and some sharp sticks." Rul'wan grumbled.

"Look, I don't believe half the stuff they say about this thing, but I have my own ideas as well." he said quietly.

"Go on." Ky'gall said.

"I think this thing can use its scales for camouflage, like actively reflecting things from its current environment in order to blend in, or just the opposite, possibly refracting light to blind any enemies."

"Great, just fucking great." Rul'wan mumbled.

"Shut up already! The more we know, the better, alright? Now just be quiet!" Ky'gall barked angrily.

Again there was a long, tense period of silence between the four before Ky'gall spoke up again.

"Can you give me any estimate on how big this thing is?" he asked with a concerned look. Rutaroo rubbed the back of his head as he spoke.

"Uh…. Somewhere within the range of 45, maybe 50, feet, couple tons in weight, again maybe. I can't be sure without seeing more than the tracks. I'm sorry Ky." he said, shrugging his shoulders.

"That's fine." Ky'gall said as he watched the sun getting lower in the sky, "You'll get the chance to see it clear as day soon enough."

. . . . . . .

Yeyin got up slowly using his spear butt to help prop himself up. After letting his head clear and a few choice curses fly from his mouth, he looked down to what he had fallen on. At first glance he thought it was simply another chunk of red rock. However he was surprised to see it was actually rectangular in shape. After clearing some brush from around it he found out he had actually tripped on a step of a set stairs!

After clearing away more brush he saw that sometime in the past, someone had carved a stairway into this natural rift within the rock. After deciding he had nothing to lose from exploration he began to carefully ascend the stone stairway, hands tightly gripping his spear shaft, lest more beasts were waiting in ambush.

. . . . . . . . .

It was sometime before Kil'Raya regained consciousness after her fall. When she did she was in a hospital bed, and Ju'dha was standing over her. As she tried to move the dark brown medic eased her back down.

"You took a pretty heavy fall. You need to stay here until we can be sure you're going to be alright." She said softly. Kil'Raya seemed to think it over before sighing and collapsing back against the pillows. Ju'dha smiled a bit and set down her med chart before sitting on the edge of the bed to talk with Kil'Raya.

"You gave us all quite a scare back there. We thought the fall could have seriously hurt you."

Kil'Raya just laughed, "A little fall won't hurt me. In case you've forgotten, I'm the mother of those five. It means I gave birth to them all." she chuckled to herself before looking more seriously at Ju'dha. "You care about my Yeyin, don't you?"

She locked eyes with Ju'dha and the medic was a bit taken aback by the seriousness in the question.

"Well I… That is to say…. I mean, I guess." she fumbled for words while Kil'Raya simply carried on gazing at her. "Yes…" she finally answered, "… I do"

"And yet…" Kil'Raya said, cocking her head to one side as she spoke, "…he is an unblooded, of little to no rank, and is only a physically perfect specimen of a male; Why are you so interested?"

"Rank and honor aren't everything in this world. There are other things I care about, and that Yeyin cares about, too." Ju'dha said quietly.

Kil'Raya cocked her head to the other side, "Like what?"

"Like trust, respect, kindness, consideration, even love." Ju'dha listed off each gently knowing full well what kind of things the "higher ups" might say if this was let out.

"You don't like how the mating system works do you, Ju'dha?" Kil'Raya seemed to state more than ask.

It was then Ju'dha started to become wary. The things they were talking of had been in place for centuries, millennia in fact. Talk of changing or going against such things would be greeted and dealt with as heresy.

"I'll be honest, I do not like the system. I don't see myself as a breeding machine, nor do I see males simply for their genetics. I want more than that." Ju'dha said boldly, though her whole frame shook, knowing full well what kind of trouble a statement like that could get her in.

"You're a brave female to say something like that, Ju'dha." Kil'Raya said with a little smile, "I knew I liked you for a reason."

. . . . . . .

As night fell, the four brothers began to move across the sands of the massive desert. The sands were still hot from the intense sun that day, and they found themselves soon panting from the heat and the increased effort of moving through the sifting, loose sand. Regardless they kept pushing on, spurred by the drive of knowing that their brother was in trouble… or worse.

. . . . . . . . . .

Yeyin had progressed up the stairs cautiously, waiting for an attack that wouldn't come. Eventually, around late afternoon, he reached the top which was the summit of the rock pillar. He couldn't believe the view of the area around him from this height; even for him it was absolutely breath taking. But even more stunning than that was the structure not 100 feet from where he stood. After gawking for a moment, he ran towards the small building and, as he stepped inside, he grew strangely still. He looked down at mummified body of a yautja, still in his armor, the skin tight and leathery over the bones of the long-dead male. Yeyin kneeled and, in a sign of respect, lowered his head and touched the crest of the fallen warrior. When he looked back up, he noticed something clutched in the fingers; a piece of cloth. He gently pulled it free and unfolded it; inside was a scrawled message. However the years of being grasped within a slowly decaying hand had stained and smeared the writing, making it more difficult to read.

He folded the cloth to read what it said later, deciding that, for now, he had to attend to his surroundings. The dwelling was a simple one with only three rooms; a kitchen and lounge area, a single bedroom, and a rest room. The inhabitant had been living quite a while in the area as many strings of preserved vegetables and meats still hung about or were enclosed in vacuum sealed containers. A brief search around the outside revealed a basement carved out under the home, where a simple humidification apparatus collected water from the early morning dew. Yeyin greedily drank from one of the barrels before realizing he was still in the home of the dead warrior. He felt ashamed; this was a gift from one who had long since passed away, probably alone and away from anyone he may have loved. He looked over towards the other end of the basement and several large cords of wood stacked in large rows. Grabbing some wire he'd seen on the floor, he began tying the logs into large bundles before carrying them out towards a large flat slab of stone he'd seen looking around the building.

Sometime later he finished and began walking back into the building, Yeyin picked up the frail and withered husk of the body and walked to the bedroom. He proceeded to remove the armor from the male and leave him dressed only in his ceremonial wear with the only weapon he still possessed, a simple dagger, laid on his chest. Kneeling, Yeyin bowed his head and said the ceremonial prayer all yautja do when mourning the loss of a fallen warrior, asking Paya to guide their soul and bring peace to them. When he had finished, he began to wrap the body within the sheets that had once made up his bed.

Walking back outside with the wrapped corpse in his arms, he walked over to the stone slab that he had prepared to be the funeral pyre for the warrior. Many bundles of wood laid stacked around and on the stone. Laying the body on the rock, Yeyin placed his hand on the head gently and said his last words.

"I've never been one for speaking, so bear with me please." he said, clearing his throat. "Tonight, I lay you to rest as I'm sure you would have wished to be. Though I don't know who you were, you helped me more today than I can ever say. Had I known your last wishes, I would have carried them out. Sadly I cannot… I hope that this will be enough; an honest funeral for what was surely an honorable warrior. May Paya guide your soul to everlasting peace."

As he stood up again, Yeyin grabbed the torch he had brought with him and lit the wood bundles around the base of the stone. He lit several more before the blaze finally engulfed the entire pyre. He stood back as the flames rose high into the night sky and, in his mind, it was the sign that the warrior's soul had passed on. Little did he know that others saw the obvious beacon that he had lit. While he would sleep peacefully that night, the following morning would be one that went down as legendary.

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	11. Chapter 10

The sounds of battle and the roar of a dragon awoke Yeyin and he sprinted to the edge of the cliff, nearly falling to his demise. He looked in horror upon seeing his brothers engaged in a life or death battle with the dragon that had carried him off. A sudden leaden weight hit his gut as he realized he needed to hurry.

"Hold on, guys!" he yelled at the top of his lungs, "I'm coming!"

. . . . . . . .

Ky'gall and the rest scrambled again in their attempts to distract them move away from the great beast which they had literally stumbled upon. They had seen the flames from the funeral pyre Yeyin had lit the previous night and headed out in that direction. By sunrise, they were only a couple hundred yards from the giant, rock monolith. They had been approaching it when Hi'tashi had tripped over what, at first, appeared to be a reflective piece of steel, he grumbled for a moment, before giving a bark of surprise as the sand beneath began to move! Slowly a huge form became visible as it continued to push itself up from underneath the green male. It soon became apparent that they had quite literally awoken a sleeping giant. The great dragon, which had partially buried itself in the sand to stay warm the previous night, shifted and pulled itself free of the dune and set about attacking the four boys. At first, they could only stare, mouths agape, as it stood before them with sand running off of its great serpentine body like water.

Only after the thunderous roar and swing from its club like tail did they spring into action. A great puff of sand had erupted from the impact and Hi'tashi backpedaled on hands and feet as the beast turned to face him. He slipped in the sand as the great head lunged towards him, the giant teeth flashing white before they were all of a sudden blasted to the side. Rul'wan had picked up a fairly large rock and heaved it at the head of the great dragon. The impact knocked the head off course and stunned it for a moment as well as knocking a few teeth loose; they skittered across the sand to the green male's feet.

Hi'tashi quickly grabbed them and bolted away, tossing them to Ky'gall and Rutaroo, who stuck them in their belts to use if necessary. After shaking its head, the great monster scanned for its attackers. The great, iridescent eyes narrowed as they sighted their target. Ky'gall had rallied the other three to him and took cover behind a small rock as they tried to devise a plan of action. The dragon was much larger than they had estimated, at least eighty feet or more, and the armored scales were much too thick for any of their crude weapons to penetrate.

Suddenly the rock exploded into pieces as the massive, clubbed tail smashed it apart. Before the rest could even react, the tail swung again and sent Ky'gall flying through the air before hitting the ground and rolling uncontrollably for a several hundred feet. He lay where he stopped, his head ringing, vision swimming, and his whole body aching. The soft thudding and cries of his kin reached his ears and he managed to roll over and sit up somewhat. His eyes widened and his skin paled at the sight he met.

The giant, silvery body of the dragon was coming right for him, rippling and coiling through the dunes, literally _**swimming**_ through the sand. Within in moments, it was upon him and reared up like some giant cobra. The vicious, steel shredding jaws opened wide as it prepared to strike and Ky'gall felt frozen. He couldn't move, couldn't even scream. Time seemed to slow as the great head lunged forth, aiming right at him. He closed his eyes in resignation of his fate.

A whooshing sound met his ears before a squishing thud and a roar of agony, followed by one of challenge. He opened his eyes to see that the dragon had stopped and something had buried itself in its eye. Black blood dripped and gushed from the soft, mangled flesh that had once made up the eye. It recoiled backwards and clawed in fevered agony to rid itself of the alien object.

It fell to Ky'gall's feet and he picked it up, looking at it. It was Yeyin's belt knife. Suddenly, a ferocious roar sounded and the great black bulk which was Yeyin shot past Ky'gall and leapt onto the dragon.

The other three had been running to Ky'gall's side and helped him to his feet as they watched, dumbfounded, while their black brother clambered onto the neck of the beast.

"Go for the underbelly!" Yeyin roared at the top of his lungs, "It's his weak spot! We can beat him!"

The dragon bucked and reared up as Yeyin stabbed in-between the scales on its neck with his spear, drawing more black blood. He caught sight of Ky'gall and tossed him something. It was an axe, the head of which he had taken and attached to a pole.

Ky'gall gripped it tightly and turned quickly to rally his brothers, "Let's go! Stay low, keep sharp, and avoid the tail and his claws! Go in turn, attack and rake the underbelly, then get out before he shifts again! Those not attacking need to keep him occupied! Let's bring this monster down!"

"**YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"** The four charged into the fray, all set with the plan, fueled by adrenaline and the knowledge that they could beat it.

Ky'gall had charged in first using Yeyin's razor sharp knife to slash and hack at the soft belly scales. Blood burst and soaked his body and he tucked and rolled as the dragon shifted and moved again.

Rutaroo bolted in next, a knife in one hand and a tooth in the other, he whirled and spun like a top, slicing, ripping and shredding everything he could reach before rolling back out again.

Next was Hi'tashi, then Rul'wan; again and again the cycle repeated and each time more damage was done.

The Mirror Dragon roared and shrieked in agony, its belly on fire with pain, and more and more wracked its massive form with each cut and slice inflicted. Black blood stained the sands and it kept trying to fight, the mad fury of survival instinct driving it on.

"Keep going!" Yeyin roared out from his perch, "He's starting to flag; we got him!" he yelled triumphantly before suddenly being thrown off. The dragon had whipped its neck back and flung Yeyin and his spear free, then spun and knocked all the others flat.

Yeyin landed on his back with a thud and his spear lay several yards in front of him. He stood groggily and, realizing the dragon was charging straight for him, dashed forward; he had to get his spear.

The beast poured on more speed as it charged toward its primary tormenter, deciding that this one would die first. The pain in its belly drove it as much as its great rage and a massive roar of triumph sounded from its mouth.

Yeyin answered the roar with one of his own as he realized how close this was going to be. Grabbing his spear, he held it high as he saw the beast raise itself high to strike. A cry of defiance sounded from him as the great jaws came crashing down on top of him and an enormous puff of sand and dust erupted before everything went suddenly silent.

Ky'gall stood first and looked over at the great body of the dragon which was lifeless, limp, and unmoving. The great mirror like scales glittered in the sunlight and a trail of dark blood followed it to its resting spot. He bolted forward, axe ready, but it was already done; the great dragon of the desert was dead. He moved to the head and heard the sounds of strained grunting where Yeyin was using all his might to force the dragon onto its side before crawling out of its mouth.

His spear stuck out the back of its skull, un bent, un-damaged, and still perfectly intact. Both gawked at it. By all means, it should have been broken beyond any imagination or hope of repair, yet it stood as stiff and straight as it had before its killing blow. Yeyin grasped the part of the shaft that was still sticking out the roof of the jaw and, after wiggling it a bit, yanked it free with a sickening, stomach-churning, wet, crunching noise.

The dragon gurgled somewhat and its chest suddenly collapsed. Ky'gall stiffened and raised his axe high, ready to strike, but Yeyin put a restraining hand on him. Ky'gall snapped his head at his brother, but paused at the relaxed, somewhat saddened stare of his brother. He followed the line of sight and saw what Yeyin did. Blood was pooling in the mouth of their slain foe, his lungs had finally collapsed under gravity and had overflowed with blood which was now leaking out.

The rest approached and all looked on almost in a similar fashion. What had been a great rush of blood and adrenaline moments before was now the slowed and calm movements of the civilized mind.

A strange guilt suddenly pulled at them; a feeling that they had done wrong, even though they knew what had been done was necessary.

Yeyin spoke for the group, "We have no shame here. We killed to survive this day, did we not?" A unanimous round of "yes'" answered him, "Then we have done what we needed to." he finished, bowing his head.

"We slayed the dragon." Rul'wan said slowly and quietly.

Hi'tashi then repeated his words, somewhat louder this time, all the while staring at the great beast, "We slayed the dragon."

All of a sudden, as if a wave washed over the group, they stiffened and felt their blood rush through them. The veins could be seen in the arms of Yeyin and Ky'gall and the rest began to fidget and shake somewhat as the realization of their monumental, impossible feat began to sink in.

Ultimately, it was Yeyin who threw back his head first and roared, for the first time in his life, as a truly, dominant predator. But when his brothers joined in, it sounded like thunder across the plains.

. . . . . . . . . . .

A week passed. The staff were sent out to find the five boys, along with 5 very stubborn females who refused to be dissuaded. Ta'lee was very nearly put in a holding cell when she knocked out a guard for trying to hold her back, but in the end, it was Ju'dha who had calmed her down. During the time their respective males had been away, the two had gotten to know each other very well and had become good friends, almost forming a sisterly bond.

They lead the group as they set out into the desert, each refusing to rest until their respective males were back with them. They were shocked as they came across the scene of battle on the dunes. Black blood was everywhere, staining the golden sands a sickly tar color. Ju'dha blanched slightly; carnage of this magnitude was unseen unless a hunt went wrong.

Ta'lee, however, had frozen stiff. She was still unused to violence, let alone bloodshed, and to see so much turned her stomach somewhat.

"Come, Mei-jadhi, let's go." Ju'dha said, putting a hand on Ta'lee's arm. The thin, orange female stared at the blood a moment longer before catching up to Ju'dha.

"What in Paya's name happened here, Ju'dha?" she asked in a hushed tone, her eyes still bright.

"A battle of some kind, that much is obvious, though whatever they encountered here must have been one hell of a beast. A real kujhade for sure." she answered with a shrug. Ta'lee blanched this time and, needing support, held onto to Ju'dha, who willingly lent her strength, "It's alright, Mei-jadhi. I'm sure they're ok."

"MORE THAN OK, TO BE PERFECTLY HONEST!" a sudden booming voice called out.

Both looked up and saw Yeyin coming out from the mouth of a cave at the top of the sand hill around the base of the rock. He was wearing pieces of strange armor and using a long spear as a walking stick.

After a moment's pause, Ju'dha broke out running straight toward him. The last few feet, she flung her arms wide open and nearly knocked him over as she hugged him tightly to her. She held him close for a moment, then grabbed him by the sides of the face and stared deeply into his ruby red eyes before pulling his face to hers and intertwining her tusks with his for a long and very passionate kiss.

Yeyin was momentarily stunned, but wrapped his thick, sinewy arms around her and returned the kiss with the same level of passion. Both could be heard purring gently, hers a soft droning murr and his a deep throbbing rumble.

She eventually pulled back and looked at him with a gentle smile on her face as she whispered to him, "There was something a while back you tried to tell me, something that I understood perfectly well, but was afraid to acknowledge. I tell you now, however, before Paya and all her creations, that I love you, Yeyin'its-pa, and not for your strength, or honor, or rank. I love you…"

"… Because _I_ love _you_." Yeyin interrupted, finishing for her knowing what she was going to say, before smiling gently.

She grinned back as tiny sparkling tears formed in her eyes.

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	12. Chapter 11

A month had passed, but the community still buzzed about the epic feat that the five brothers had accomplished. The local populous at first thought elder Kil'Ra had been making a joke, but all had changed the day the carcass of the colossal beast was hauled into the center of the town square, to be processed and readied for a feast.

The five brothers themselves did the greatest amount of the work. Yeyin was hard to distinguish amongst his brothers by mid-day since the thick, black blood of the reptile had stained all of the big males thoroughly. Gutting the monster had been a feat within itself.

Those who had originally scorned and put them down now only looked on with awe and wonder; the five had done the impossible. The feared Ingens horriblisargentum was one of the few known creatures that was not only impervious to the kainde amedha, but was known to consume them, and these five had brought one down without energy weapons, without computer assistance, without guidance, through sheer will, determination, ingenuity and resilience. They had brought down a creature that even the most skilled warriors would fear to tackle.

And yet, with so much praise and admiration being heaped upon them, they simply shrugged it off. They didn't brag or boast of what they had accomplshed, they simply had done what needed to be done.

Elder Kil'Ra was still overwhelmed with praise for them though; he had his best at hand, ready to process the hide, scales, meat, bones, organs, and literally everything else from the kill and craft it into leather, tools, weapons, clothing, ornamental pieces, and all other conceivable things for the brothers. This was their kill and they would share the collective trophies of it.

However, some already had what they considered their most important trophies. Rutaroo and Hi'tashi still had the teeth they had used in their fight, Rutaroo had been fashioning his into a large belt knife, the natural edge and curve of the tooth made it a wicked slash and stab weapon. He had at first simply wrapped the handle with cord and left it there, but now with more tools at his disposal he was thinning out the root of the tooth in order to have it fit his hand better. However the enamel of the dragon was like that of high carbon steel, and he was having to come up with very creative ways to meet his goal.

However, more interest was given to the spear which Yeyin had used to slay the dragon. Elder Kil'Ra had been hard pressed just to get Yeyin to relinquish the weapon for even a moment; the big male had become very attached to the pole arm, almost unconsciously carrying it with him everywhere, either in his hand or across his back, he had even slept with it upon his first night back in his old room.

Study had revealed that the weapon was a single piece of tremendously tough and resilient steel, capable of shedding off the acid of the kainde and nearly diamond-hard. The steel itself was a type known to be incredibly rare, only ever seen in custom hand crafted weapons made by master smiths.

It was so rare in fact that weapons made out of it were highly coveted. Upon learning this, Yeyin was even more unwilling to let someone take it out of his sight; it was his weapon now and he wouldn't let anyone say otherwise. The fact that he had simply come across such a weapon by mere chance both puzzled and intrigued him.

And yet, the body of the long dead warrior intrigued him even more. He had made it a point, once he had recovered, to question elder Kil'Ra and his respective colleagues as much as he possibly could. He was frustrated at the end result. Any records of early exploration of the outpost were either hopelessly buried and so vague they were useless, or had simply been lost or disposed of. The body itself was impossible to age, not only was it now gone but if the proper conditions were present, it could have been naturally mummified for over a thousand years, or more. Identification would be hopeless. Any clues hoped to be gathered from the armor Yeyin had recovered were equally futile. It was simple plate armor. Yeyin resigned himself to the fact that this was one mystery he would not solve and, ultimately, he was strangely happy with the idea. It was more comforting to look upon his discovery as a blessing, that was until he rediscovered the smeared cloth he had found in the hand of the yautja….

...

"I have witnessed firsthand these boys and their capabilities. Their skill, adaptability, ingenuity, cooperation, and honor are the best any could hope for, they are just as worthy as any other males." Elder Kil'Ra stated resolutely. He had been brought before the council of the area to request a chance for the five to be allowed to go on their chiva with the next group.

"Why so serious on this matter, Kil'Ra?" an elderly female asked, her already wrinkled brow now even more furrowed with puzzlement. "I know that you, yourself, have many kin ready to take on their own chiva and join the ranks of honored yautja, but these boys…" she paused, looking over the male carefully, "…what are they to you? Blood relations of some sort, or family perhaps?"

"The five are sons from a female whom I know well. Her father was a worthy hunter, warrior, and general. He and I were good friends and he had saved my life. Honor dictated that I was in his debt and I solemnly swore to repay him when, and however, I could. I was saddened to learned that he had died in battle, trying to settle a simple clan dispute, leaving his only two daughters stranded and alone. One of them gave birth and only wants her boys to succeed and I know that my friend would have given them every available chance he could, but he can't and so I'm doing it for him. In spite of my intentions, however, I still cannot go against you, the council, so please just answer me this one question; would you really deny me, an old male who is just trying to uphold a promise he made to a dead friend, or would you make me a liar?" he asked, scanning the faces with a piercing gaze.

...

Elder Kil'Ras kitchens were bustling with activity since well before morning light had appeared. An entirely new section had been created just to house the massive pits which would be needed just to roast the dragon, but that was only to be the pinnacle of what was to be an epic feast! Wild bora, Mantral buffalo, cobra fish, and giant pythons would all be needed by the ton to even hope to feed the occupants. Solely because the occupants would be the entire populous of the outpost. Elder Kil'Ra had succeeded in his attempts to get the boys into their chiva, and to celebrate, he was throwing a grand celebration in their honor and everyone was invited. It would be an interesting day for sure; the high society would be freely mingling with the commoners, elders, warriors, clan leaders and even a handful of arbitrators, as well as young pups, shop owners, smithies, and mechanics.

With such a formal event however, Kil'Raya's five boys were stumped about how to get proper dress attire. They hardly ever wore anything besides their codpieces, loincloths and the occasional fur wrap on the drafty days. Elder Kil'Ra answered their questions for them, and that morning they had found themselves in a situation which left them wishing they were back facing the dragon.

All five were in a neat orderly row stripped down to only their codpieces and under the scrutinizing eye of Phallanna. She was a female of golden coloration with scales of a shiny metallic hue ranging from rose gold, to a rich, proud bronze. The only thing sharper than her vicious ebony claws, were her dark, black platinum eyes. At nine and a half feet she was the tallest female any of them had ever seen, and altogether her height, quick, cunning eyes, sharp, needle-like claws, and the many sharply pointed and menacing looking tools which hung from her built, greatly unnerved the boys.

"GAH! PAUK! WILL YOU STOP TWITCHING ALREADY?"

It didn't help that she had a short temper also.

"That's the third pauking time you've made me retake the same damn measurement! I swear to Paya on high, you Tarei'hasan! If you pauk me up one more time, I'll cut something down to size on you! NOW HOLD STILL!" she shrieked at Rutaroo.

As Rutaroo stiffened with fear and concentration, a round of giggles sounded from the back of the room.

There watching were the five females who had come to find a life friend in each of the males. They had started to hang together and were as interesting and talented a group as the brothers. They were a very pretty group as well, each as individual as the males they had come to love.

"Having a little trouble there, Tiger?" N'ritja cooed at Rutaroo. The young male's eyes blazed brightly as he couldn't even afford to quiver with anger, lest Phallanna vent her wrath on him. Soon enough though, he was let go and gave a sigh before rushing over to N'ritja to hug and scold her.

Hi'tashi was finished with quickly; naturally, he still found it easy to obey Phallanna's orders and was soon back over with Ty'lira, idly twirling her dreadlocks in his fingers as they stared into each other's eyes. Eventually, Phallanna finished with Yeyin and Ky'gall and immediately set to work rending and cutting fabric and leather in order to tailor clothes to fit them all. While she was a very broody and temperamental female, none could best her when it came to crafting fine clothing.

Every once and a while a smaller female could be seen popping in and out to aid the giantess as she worked. To the untrained eye, it would appear she was an assistant or, at the very least, the big female's personal asegian. But as the Phallanna bent down to tenderly stroke the smaller female before kissing her very passionately on the mouth, it became apparent that the golden girl was not only imposing, but a lesbian as well. While uncommon in yautjan society, homosexuality did occur, though very often it was looked down upon, seen as unwise when a male or female could have strong genes to pass on.

Yeyin and the others looked on it a little intrigued, but felt no real disdain towards the two. Besides, who were they to judge? Technically, they were just as strange; males and females wanting each other not for genetics, but for personality. In a way, it gave them all comfort; if these two could have such a relationship, was the type they were seeking all that much different?

...

As the afternoon slowly wore on, Kil'Raya sat in her room, musing things over as she played with her long dreadlocks. She wore only a small wrap around her waist and let her breasts stay free, a very common thing for a yautja female to do in her own house or room when alone. She was so happy that her boys would finally become the hunters they should be.

"Enjoying the prosperity of your family?" a deep rumbling voice asked from behind her.

Kil'Raya straightened her back slowly before addressing the stranger without looking at him, "Don't you mean our family?"

She turned to face Cetanu then and he smiled softly, creating an eerie look on his black face, "Aye, I suppose I do."

He walked over to sit next to her on the bed, the same male who had bedded her so many years ago and not a day older or any different than she remembered.

"Why are you here, Cetanu?" Kil'Raya asked.

"What? Am I not allowed to speak to my mate?" he replied with a slight chuckle.

"Oho! So, I'm your mate now?" Kil'Raya scoffed a bit.

"Aren't you?" he replied, his voice that deep, throaty rumble he knew she found irresistible. Ever so slowly, she moved close to wrap her arms about him, burying her head in his dark chest while inhaling the heavy musky scent.

"Yes, you know it's true. I dream of you sometimes in my off time. I think of our night together; no male has ever compared to you." she whispered, her breathing fast and excited. For the first time in a while, she felt the insides of her womanhood become hot and slick with arousal and suddenly, she ached for him., though she fought her urges, "Why me, though?"

"Because, Kil'Raya…" he said, bringing her head to look him in the eyes, "…because only you would treat my boys the way they should be treated."

With that, he leaned down and kissed her passionately as his hand slid down her wraps and stroked her wet, eager folds. She trilled softly with joy at his touch, "Please, please my Cetanu, mate with me like you did so many years ago."

The big male smiled as he laid her on her back, stripping himself as well as her, "Of course, my mate. This is a day for celebration."

Then moans and excited, clicking trills poured from Kil'Raya's room.

...

Ju'dha walked into her room to find something lying on her bed. Picking up the wrapped parcel, she smiled at the note clearly written in Yeyin's heavy handed, but very smooth, writing.

"**For you, my pretty. A gift to make you even more lovely, Yeyin"**

Ju'dha giggled a bit to herself as she began to slowly unwrap the cloth, then gasped at seeing what was inside. It was a beautifully handcrafted necklace made from the scales and bones of the dragon. They had been tooled and shaped to resemble marquise and pear type cuts seen on diamonds and other precious gemstones. While a very serious and warrior-minded girl, Ju'dha blushed slightly as she trilled at how the piece of jewelry glittered in the light. She immediately walked over to the mirror and put it about her neck, fitting the clasps together.

It fit her perfectly and she smiled again. She couldn't wait to wear it that night to dinner.

...

The afternoon pressed on steadily and eventually turned to night. The great fires around the dwelling were lit, brightening the night with a tribal light. Powdered minerals and stones were added, changing the flames to bright reds and deep blues, the colors of celebration.

In their rooms, the bothers were preparing themselves for the night, thoroughly washing their hair and bodies with fine soaps and scrubbing themselves with soft grit stones (yautja hide being much too tough for cloth to hold up for any reasonable period of time) before finally rubbing themselves down with a very fragrant, spiced oil. When they each got out, they were somewhat surprised to be met by a group of small male asegians.

Each had been sent by Phallanna to deliver their clothing and to help dress them as well; it was awkward to say the least. Yeyin felt more than marginally uneasy as the many hands gently tucked, folded, and tied the cloth wraps and pieces of fabric and leather which had Phallanna had used to make up his particular set.

When it was all done, Yeyin was a bit taken aback; his reflection looked like a completely different yautja. A large sarong-type piece ended just beneath his knees and was complemented by a wide red belt which came to just below pectorals. His top was a black leather vest which was custom made to fit his massively wide back and, along with those two, were cloth wrappings that wound around his wrists and continued up to a good portion of his forearms. The last piece was a large silver band which wrapped around his left bicep.

"Holy shit… I actually look good." Yeyin said in disbelief to himself.

...

The others were dressed much the same as Yeyin; their outfits differing in size and color patterns. They proceeded to the lower level where they would be waiting to meet the females. It was customary at such a feast that each male court and dine with a female and it was only fitting that each male dine with their future mate.

However, Yeyin nearly stopped dead in his tracks when he spotted Ju'dha. She was absolutely gorgeous dressed in a long strapless dress that had a large v-cut at the front that came up to her knees and matching long white sleeves that ended just before her shoulders. Around her neck was the necklace he had made, glittering and twinkling gently in the light, and her emerald green eyes seemed to glitter with it as she smiled.

He walked forward slowly and kneeled before her, bowing respectfully. She offered her hand and he took it standing slowly, "Would you dine with me tonight, honorable sister?"

"I would be honored, brave hunt brother." she returned.

She offered her arm and Yeyin let her wrap it around his own as the rest followed their lead and they proceeded to the dining area.

...

There was the sound of many forms standing as they approached the head table. As Yeyin and Ju'dha walked out, a great applause went up and cheering was heard for the boys. Yeyin simply went forward and pulled a chair out for Ju'dha, before seating himself. Even as strong and fearless as he was, he still trembled at the sheer number of individuals before him and his family. He sat, his hands shaking slightly, and he nearly jumped when he felt Ju'dha's fingers grasp his own. He looked up nervously. but felt all tension melt inside of him when he saw her smile. Truly, if she could be calm, then he could, too.

...

The night had flown by in a blur of feasting, laughter, dancing, toasts, and merriment and all five young brothers were in a heavy sleep during the few days following, waking only to eat, drink, and perform other necessary biological tasks.

It was on the third day that a strange parcel appeared on five beds. Each male slowly opened the boxes to reveal sets of armor, gauntlets and a mask; all for their chiva, of course. Not soon after discovering their armor, they found notes detailing that in three days they would be leaving to dock on a mother ship coming to visit before being taken to the planet Amano for their chiva.

It was the night before their departure and Yeyin was restless. He had on his new armor and was just stretching and moving about in it, running in place, crouching, climbing on or over things, jumping, ducking, dodging, weaving, and rolling. He couldn't find any imperfections; the armor hugged him tight, but didn't bind. It was truly his.

The one thing he tooled over more than anything else however, were his wrist blades; he finally had his own pair. Balling his fists again, he let the blades come free and they continued to ring gently, shining and glittering gently in the soft light, each wicked barb and razor edge seeming to glow. These would be his blades, the ones he would use to make his kill and place him on the throne as a hunter. It was then that he was brought out of his thoughts by a soft voice behind him.

"Am I interrupting, Yeyin?" Ju'dha asked.

Yeyin turned to face his mate, but was surprised when he saw she was only wearing a long, black, knee- length robe. He eyed her curiously, "No, Ju'dha, I'm free to talk."

She smiled and walked over to him slowly, her curved hips rolling gently as her finely trimmed talons clicked against the floor with each step until she stood only a foot from him, "I wanted to show you something, Yeyin. Something to remind you exactly why you're going to be the best hunter in your chiva. I know you're thinking you're going to battle for rights and honor, but this is what you battle for…"

With that, she gently let the robe she was wearing fall to the floor, showing that she had worn absolutely nothing underneath and now stood naked in front of him. There was a sudden –clank- as the mask he'd been holding dropped to the floor. His eyes went wide as he drank in the beauty of her naked form; her smooth skin, her pert breasts, her taught, shapely stomach, her long, muscular legs, and everything bare and naked before him. She took a step forward and took one of his hands in hers, gently guiding it between her legs to have him cup her aroused and wet folds gently. She moaned softly.

"When you get back, with those new scars and the skulls of the kainde I know you'll display proudly, I want you to remember one thing." she whispered into his ear.

"What?" Yeyin asked, his voice barely a whisper.

"I have a VERY special trophy I'm going to want you to mount personally, and I'll be waiting for you."

With that, she turned on her heel and walked out of the room, dressed once more in her robe, leaving a weak kneed Yeyin still stunned before furiously trying to remove his codpiece.

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	13. Chapter 12

The five walked slowly and solemnly towards the shuttle opening with everything they needed either being worn or packed away in simple duffle bags across their backs. None had slept the previous night; their nerves too tense, the best they could do had been to simply lay down and stare at either the walls or ceiling and lose themselves in their thoughts.

Now it was time and, after many long, heartfelt, and last minute, advise-packed goodbyes, they walked onboard a shuttle full of other yautja, all young males the same age. Once inside, there was an awkward pause as everyone who was seated turned to look at the five. They were frozen for a moment until Hi'tashi pushed his way forward and headed toward the last few seats at the back. As they strapped themselves down, the gentle thrum of talk and gossip returned. Then the ship began to shake and the hum of the engines picked up and Yeyin simply leaned his head back and closed his eyes. He had made a promise; he WOULD return home.

...

"I'm always struck by just how routine this is going to sound, but all of you better listen up right now." the older male said. He continued to pace in the large landing/cargo bay which had been turned into a meeting area where all the unblooded were gathered in neat lines as he addressed them, "I want you all to look around right now. Study the faces next to, in front of, and behind you. I'm sure some of you will recognize each other; maybe as old friends, maybe as rivals, and a few even as feuding men. Well, as of RIGHT NOW, any rivalry, any competition, any grudge between you and that man, amounts to shit!" he barked the last few words.

"We are not here to settle scores or amend past actions. I do not care who among you comes from high ranking families; you could be the son of elder or a worker and that, too, now amounts to shit. You are here to become warriors, blooded and marked men, and for the week which we will spend traveling into the place where you will get that chance, you are going to learn to become hunting units in groups of 8. Seeing as how we've got exactly 208, fresh and ready, that means there will be 26 groups. Now, onto more formal matters; my name is Kv'var, but until the day comes when you've bagged your first kainde and have proven your worth, the first and last words out of your mouths when addressing me or my associates will be 'sir'! Is that clear to all of you?"

He snapped the last sentence, a loud and hard demand, and there was a single unified answer, "SIR, YES, SIR!"

"Alright!" Kv'var continued, "That's out of the way. Onto reality girls; this is going to be one of the hardest things you'll ever do. You will not be watched. You will not be supervised. You will not be guided, aided, assisted, or helped in any way, shape, or form. My job is to show that you are smart enough to learn and adapt and therefore survive and conquer. To be honest, I know not just some, but a good deal of you, will not be capable, not if you do not listen up. I know none of you are going to get along this first day; you're all too full of piss, vinegar, and worthless pride for that, so in this week, you better begin to realize that together you're strong and alone you are worthless. Is that clear?"

"SIR, YES, SIR!"

"You, will eat, sleep, bathe, fight, and work together. If you do this right, you will become as close as family, and you'd better get close, because in order for you pups to get a chance at better gear, weapons and information, your team members will have to fight others for it. Success depends not on your strengths, but on your team's strengths. Your strongest isn't always the best, your smartest won't always be right, but if you work together, you can help each other become stronger and fight better. If you work against each other, all of you will fail.

"Now, your meals will be served in the communal mess hall and are only served three times a day, and you will only eat three times a day. If you are not around in time to get your food, that's on you. My men will now break you into your groups and you will be assigned your quarters. Carry on."

"SIR, YES, SIR!"

...

After the groups were assigned and quarters for each group was announced, there was a mild scramble by the males to get to their bunking before the lights went out. All members were required to sleep for the first twenty four hours in order to get acclimated with the travel and time on the ship.

As Yeyin and his brothers got settled into their new accommodations, they tried their best not to seem cold or distant from the three other males they were sharing their quarters with. The others were a mixed bunch; average in height at around seven feet, they were naturally a little awkward around the five, especially Yeyin and Ky'gall; the two alone dwarfed any aboard in both height and physique.

However, a dark reddish brown male eventually walked over and extended his hand towards Yeyin, "My name's Del'thwei and these two are my friends, Maka and Quall. What's yours, big man?"

His hand was enveloped by Yeyin's, who introduced himself and his brothers, "My name is Yeyin'its-pa and these are my brothers, Ky'gall, Hi'tashi, Rutaroo, and Rollway."

"Nice to meet you all, I'm sure." Del'thwei said politely as he continued, "Looks like you're the ones the rumors have been about; clear to see they weren't too exaggerated about proportion." he said looking at Yeyin and his brothers from head to foot.

"We deny everything." Rul'wan called from his bunk. His four brothers chuckled along with the three new males.

"Did you guys really bring down that dragon?" Maka asked from his bunk, rolling over to look at the five.

"We did." said Ky'gall as he leaned back to lay down in his bunk.

"Don't seem too proud about it." Quall said, continuing the questioning along with Maka.

"We are." Hi'tashi assured as he closed his eyes.

"Well, why don't you talk about it?" Del'thwei asked, arranging the last few things in his bunk.

"We did what we needed to do. It wasn't really a choice; it was him or us." Yeyin replied as he laid down, resting his head in his hands and looking up at the bunk above his.

Maka responded, "Well, you guys certainly seem nice enough. A lot of others said you were real jerks."

"We get that a lot." Rutaroo growled, "Gets old fast."

"Sounds pretty nasty. I mean, you guys are pretty much what any male would dream of being, but it sounds like everyone hates you for it." Maka continued.

"Pretty much how it is." Yeyin sighed, "We're used to it."

"Well, I think you guys are actually pretty decent." Del'thwei said aloud, "I think you guys are alright and my friends do too, so what do you say guys? Think we could be friends?"

There was a bit of whispered conversation before an agreement was reached. Yeyin smirked, "Why not?"

As they all laughed, a loud banging came from the door and a voice on the other side barked, "Lights out, ladies. Get to sleep."

...

Yeyin grunted as he got thrown to the mat again. The big female was unrelenting in her actions and kept trying to land punches to his head. He grunted and tried to block and dodge most of the hits before he finally landed a punch to the bottom of her jaw. She shook a bit and threw him off her. The whistle blew and signaled the end of the match.

"Not bad, big guy. You need a little work on your speed, but otherwise, your defense and eye for openings is superb. You'll be ok out there." Kv'var said, patting him on the shoulder.

Yeyin looked over toward the female and saw that she was ok. He nodded thankfully and bowed to his elder before leaving to look over the weapons he had won earlier that day; a glaive and some nice daggers. Ky'gall had won a pair of mauls and a shuriken and Rul'wan managed to win a razor whip. Rutaroo had gotten a long blade while Hi'tashi had gotten the best spear gun and their bunkmates, also, managed to get equally decent weapons.

Yeyin saw that the edge of the weapon had become a bit dull and decided that he could put a better edge on it. He held the stone in his hand, took a sip of water, and began to touch up the edge. This was life on the ship as they sped towards the massive jungle planet, Amano. Life was routine; get up, eat, train, spar, rest, eat, train more, spar more, lecture, eat, bathe, and finally sleep, with the cycle repeating come morning.

This day would be different, however, as their lecture would now focus on their prey and target of the Chiva; the kainde amedha, the dreaded living weapon. Even from a young age, Yautja were taught and told of them; about their parasitoidal life cycle, speed, strength, and offensives. Yeyin, himself, felt a small chill in his bones when he thought about the insect-like beasts. They were without compassion, reason, or rationale, and they followed the most basic of instincts. Left unchecked, they were an utterly destructive species that would wipe out everything in their path.

The lecture was a long one; in-depth detail had been given on the monsters. In just a minimum of 12-8 hours, the embryos were fully formed and would begin to punch their way free of the host, after which, in as little as 36 hours, with proper food, a drone could become fully grown. Their acidic blood would render all weapons, except combisticks and ceremonial blades or treated metal, impervious.

The assembly that left for their bunks was silent, at least for a moment, until the resident loudmouth, Zazeen, interrupted the peace with his usual subtlety, "Ah they ain't so pauking bad! I bet I can kill five or six easy. A male of such fine blood lines like me can handle 'em. All you runts just stay out of my way and you might live long enough to make it through."

His seven other cronies laughed, but Yeyin and his brothers groaned, rolling their eyes when the idiot didn't stop, "Yeah, it'll be as easy as it is fighting one of the couple hundred idiots on this ship. I don't even know why they bothered to send you all with me; I'm just going to show you all-"

"SHUT THE PAUK UP FOR GODS SAKE!" Yeyin snapped, turning on his heel and glaring at the prick.

Zazeen paused and smirked at Yeyin, "What's wrong, big guy? Are you jealous of my obvious skills that just outmatch yours?"

He laughed, but Yeyin growled, taking a step forward as the crowd formed a ring around the two, "No, I, or more accurately, WE, are all sick of your goddamn mouth. Seriously, SHUT UP! No gives a c'jit about you or which of your parents pauked the other. You're just another yautja, same as the rest of us."

Zazeen frowned this time, "I can't believe you think that I'm anywhere near the level of a low class bastard like yourself."

"Please! You're as much a supreme warrior as me. You're no better than us, you're no stronger than any of us, and you sure as HELL aren't anywhere near smarter than us! In fact, the only thing that's probably different about you, is that your dick is the smallest of any male on record!" the statement was followed by a chorus of laughter and snickers.

Zazeen flushed green under his yellow skin and snarled, "You watch yourself, Yeyin'its-pa…"

This time, Yeyin stepped forward until he was right in front of the loudmouth and was looking down into his eyes. He growled low in his throat, his red eyes hard and dangerous, "Or what? You gonna do something, alpha male?"

Zazeens craven heart failed and he looked down and walked away calling over his shoulder, "You're still nothing but a low class pawn!"

"You'll remember that when I save your ass!" Yeyin called back before he added with a snarled, "Prick…"

((**REVIEWS! I LIKE AND WANT REVIEWS!**))


	14. Chapter 13

Zazeen decided he would take his chance. Yeyin paused as he felt a hand grab at his shoulder and spin him, and as he turned, a fist connected hard against the side of his face with an obvious and audible 'crack!' To his credit, Zazeen did possess the strength of a male yautja, and Yeyin stumbled for a moment, seeing stars briefly flash across his vision. His four brothers and three friends rushed over quickly, but the big male merely held a hand out, stopping them as he chuckled."It's fine, it's fine. Seriously, I'm ok." Standing, he winked at Ky'gall, who shook his head, knowing what was about to happen even as Yeyin gestured towards Zazeen, "He ain't."

The loudmouth was caught completely off guard as Yeyin balled the hand he had held out into a fist and spun, bringing it low before coming back up hard. He caught Zazeen square in his gut, the force in the blow so strong that Yeyin practically lifted the other male off his feet. Taking a step back, the big male watched as Zazeen sunk down to his knees, trying to catch the breath that had been driven out of his lungs. He coughed and spluttered before throwing up on the floor ungraciously. All present laughed as the once proud boaster lost control of himself and threw up again. Looking up, vomit dripping off his tusks, Zazeen still growled hoarsely, "Worthless… whoreson."

Yeyin suddenly grabbed him by the throat and raised his fist high before bringing it crashing back down like a hammer. The impact was so forceful that not only did everyone hear it, those closest would swear that they could feel it themselves, like a small thunderclap. Everyone grew silent as Zazeen's body sank to the ground and didn't move. Yeyin looked up and stared at the faces of the crowd; all were wide eyed with fear and shock. He looked back down momentarily at the still body before turning with a snarl to walk down the hall to his quarters on the ship.

. . . . . . .

By the next day, things were very different. Yeyin stood straight or, more accurately, was held up straight; his arms wrapped around and tied to a tall wooden post in the Jedhin ring and training arena. He had been stripped of all of his armor and he wore nothing except a cloth wrap around his groin.

Flexing the muscles in his arms, he gripped the fibrous cord that bound him and pulled gently; the ropes tightened, groaned, but stayed taught and strong. Sighing, he placed his head against the post and whispered silent prayers for himself and his brothers. At first, Kv'var had wanted all of his bunk mates punished as well and everyone else forced to a week of hard P.E. for not doing anything to stop the incident, but Yeyin had talked him out of it, saying that he himself was the only one at fault. Kv'var had had him and all the others brought in early to the arena, where they had marched him, nearly naked, to the post and tied him to it to wait while the others filtered in. When all were present he began,

"All of you know why you're here, and you all know why he's there." He said pointing at Yeyin, "What he did was inexcusable! He let another get to him, affect him, and make him lose control of his actions and forget himself!" The elder male said, looking over the crowd.

"YOU ARE YAUTJA!" he then roared out so sharply and suddenly that even Yeyin nearly jumped. Kv'vars voice was hard authoritative and full of disgust, "YOU ARE RAISED AND TRAINED TO BE AN ELITE! AN EXAMPLE OF REFINED BARBARISM! WE HUNT AND WE KILL TO PROVE OUR WORTHINESS, BUT AMONGST EACH OTHER WE SHOW RESTRAINT, PAITIENCE AND UNDERSTANDING. ACTIONS LIKE YEYIN'ITS-PA'S WOULD RESULT IN CONFLICT AND SLAUGHTER, AND WORSE, YOU ALL DID NOTHING TO STOP IT! NOTHING!"

Sighing, he spoke again, now with less anger, "However, Yeyin has shown that he still has a sense of honor. He alone has taken responsibility for what had occurred and has so stated he is the only onewho is in need of punishment." As Kv'var continued, a group of four, black armored females came out.

Two were bearing evil looking whips similar to a cat-o'ninetails. The others held large, rectangular, deep-bodied containers filled with a strange, putty-like substance that glowed an evil, purplish-blue and smelled bitter and acrid.

"None of you are allowed to leave until this is over, and all of you had better remember that next time, I may not be as understanding." He then walked over to Yeyin and whispered to the dark-skinned young male, "You got a female back home, son?"

Yeyin furrowed his brow, confused, "Uh... yeah, why?"

"Focus on her, it'll help." Kv'var said, tucking the big male's dreadlocks over his shoulders to exposehis back before gently patting Yeyin on the shoulder. Walking to the side, he looked at the females and nodded, "Proceed."

The females stepped forward and one put a glove on her hand. Scooping a generous handful of the substance in one of the containers, she spread it on Yeyin's back and the big male closed his eyes as he felt effects of the paste; it made his back feel cool and as though hundreds of pins and needles were gently pricking his hide. One of the females cut this short as she suddenly lashed out with her scourge. The ends were covered with a set of metal claws which ripped and sliced into the male's flesh. Yeyin gasped and grabbed the ropes in a deathgrip, but suddenly groaned in he didn't see, but what the assembly did, were the wounds on his back slowly sealing back up, perfectly healed, and his skin smoked as it did. What the assembly didn't know was that, as his wounds healed, Yeyin felt like his skin was being showered with hot coals. It ceased slightly as his wounds closed, but the agonizing pain was renewed as the scourge lashed his back again.

Over and over this process was repeated, timed so that as soon as one set of cuts closed, new ones were opened, and after maybe thirty lashes, more putty was applied and the whipping continued. Minutes passed, then one hour, then two; by the third the first container was empty. Yeyin was slack against the post, his legs weak and his breath ragged. As if the pain weren't bad enough, the putty also had made his temperature sky rocket until his throat was dry and he was dripping with sweat. The only time there were pauses was when they stopped to apply more putty or give him some water to drink.

By the middle of the fourth hour, Zazeen was walked in and he grinned, calling out obnoxiously, "Give him more; he can take it!"

He was slapped by an elder male before Kv'var barked, "One more outburst like that, worm, and you'll join him!" Zazeen froze as he looked about and saw every face was glaring at him, seven in particular with enough venom to kill.

The whipping continued and by hour five, every lash caused the big male to howl out in agony, each lash bringing it out louder and louder until in rang around the room, a sound of pure pain, agonizing to any who heard. It stabbed into the body and mind like a knife, making hearts fail and minds cry in sympathy.

A voice called out, "Hang on Yeyin! It's almost over!" and murmurs followed this. A few minutes later,a different voice called out, "You got this, Yeyin!" Then more voices began to rise until Kv'var called for silence and walked over to the restrained male."Don't you give in to this, you hear? Don't you ask for leniency, understand me?" he growled into Yeyin's ear, then resumed his position and the females continued.

Yeyin growled loudly in his throat, snarling as he pulled himself up on the post, face grim. With every lash, he merely twitched, his body tensing more and more and the ropes that bound him began to strain and groan under the pressure. The level of the paste in its container got lower and lower as the end was nearing. As the last bit was applied, Yeyin could be seen having blood run down his forearms and drip off his elbows. As the last strike hit, there was a loud popping snap as the ropes gave. The ends had been cutting into Yeyin's forearms as he had pulled them tighter and tighter and they had finally given out under the strain. The guards immediately surrounded him, but Kv'var held them back. The big male walked slowly but purposefully over to where Zazeen was standing. This time, the loudmouth looked in stark fear at the almost naked, fatigued raised a hand and Zazeen flinched, but Yeyin merely placed his hand on the shorter male's shouldergently. Leaning in close, he whispered softly, "I will always remember this, alpha male. Don't EVER forget it."Standing back up, Yeyin spat at his feet, then turned on his heel and began to walk away towards the exit. He only got a few steps before he collapsed, heavily, barely holding himself up with his arms which still bore the ropes that were now green with blood.

Del'thwei immediately ran over to Yeyin's side and was supporting him under his arm, "Please, let me help you friend. It would be honor to help a male such as yourself."Yeyin chuckled as Mak'ai helped hold him up under his other arm, "Not as honored as I am to have friends like you."


End file.
